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Last remaining case against Zardari dismissed

ISLAMABAD: An anti-corruption court in Rawalpindi dismissed the last remaining case against Pakistan People’s Party leader Asif Zardari on Friday, providing him with an almost a clean break from his previous political avatar.

The withdrawal of seven cases against him in the last two weeks is an important political boost for Mr. Zardari, especially if he decides to nominate himself for Prime Minister in the coming coalition government.

Earlier this week, the court dropped a kickbacks case against him. Farooq Naek, PPP co-chairman’s lawyer, told reporters outside the court that he expected the government to write to judicial authorities in Switzerland, asking them to stop a money laundering investigation against Mr. Zardari, which is connected to the kickbacks case.

Mr. Naek said the government was also likely to withdraw a case in a British court relating to the purchase of a country manor in Surrey by Mr. Zardari. The Rawalpindi court dropped five other cases against him earlier this month. On Friday, the court dismissed the last of seven corruption cases against him on the ground that there was no evidence against him in the case, in which he was charged with the alleged evasion of customs duties in the import of a BMW car.

The cases had been pending against him for over a decade, and Mr. Zardari spent eight years in jail in Pakistan as he awaited prosecution. The withdrawal of the cases was a foregone conclusion once the Supreme Court cleared the way for the implementation of the National Reconciliation Ordinance, which provides for this.

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