Staff Reporter
Islamabad
The Supreme Court (SC) set aside on Tuesday the Registrar Office’s objections to former president Asif Ali Zardari’s application, seeking transfer of corruption cases against him from Islamabad’s accountability court to Karachi.
The order was given by Supreme Court’s Justice Umar Ata Bandial while hearing the plea in his chamber. Zardari’s counsel, Farooq H. Naek appeared on behalf of the former president. After hearing his arguments, the SC judge allowed the appeal and ordered the Registrar’s Office to fix the main application before a bench within two weeks.
Earlier, on November 3, the Pakistan People’s Party co-chairman had approached the apex court and requested to transfer the National Accountability Bureau’s Toshakhana reference from Islamabad’s Accountability Court No III to a court in Karachi in view of his ill health.
The apex court, while hearing a suo motu case related to fake accounts, had ordered to conduct a trial of the accused persons in Islamabad. The court had rejected review petitions against its order.
The Registrar Officer had earlier declared the civil miscellaneous appeal as “not entertainable” and returned the CMA along with the paper books. According to the SC office, the application was not entertainable as NAB – the prosecution in the case – filed the reference in view of an order of the Supreme Court.
