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PAKISTAN-CORRUPTION-POLITICS
Pakistan ex-president Zardari faces travel ban over graft
ISLAMABAD, Dec 27, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Pakistan announced Thursday it would
ban former president Asif Ali Zardari from travelling abroad following
allegations of money laundering, as the nation marked 11 years since his
wife, prime minister Benazir Bhutto, was assassinated.
Information minister Fawad Chaudhry told reporters in Islamabad that
Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur were among 172 people involved in cases
of money laundering and use of fake bank accounts.
“All the 172 names … will be added to the ECL (Exit Control List),” he
said.
Zardari, co-chairman of the opposition Pakistan People’s Party and who was
president from 2008 until 2013, has long been the subject of corruption
allegations, and is widely known in Pakistan as “Mr Ten Percent”.
The announcement coincided with the 11th death anniversary of his spouse
and two-time former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who was killed in a gun
and suicide bomb attack during an election rally in the garrison town of
Rawalpindi on December 27, 2007.
Earlier this week Chaudhry said a joint investigation team (JIT) had found
evidence of how Zardari allegedly laundered money through fake bank accounts
and companies.
“I hope Zardari will now take the JIT seriously,” he said Thursday, adding
that his government would not spare anyone involved in plundering national
wealth.
Prime Minister Imran Khan, who came to power in July, has vowed to squash
rampant corruption and recover billions siphoned from the country as his
government scrambles to shore up Pakistan’s deteriorating finances and fast-
depleting foreign exchange reserves.
Zardari’s travel ban comes days after former prime minister Nawaz Sharif
was sentenced to seven years in prison for corruption on Monday, the latest
in a long string of court cases against him.
Pakistan’s Supreme Court disqualified Sharif from politics for life over
graft allegations in 2017, ousting him from power. His Pakistan Muslim
League-Nawaz was defeated by Khan in the July polls.
A Pakistani court established a commission in September to investigate the
scourge of corruption, finding that at least $400 million had passed through
“thousands of false accounts”, using the names of impoverished people.
The commission said some 600 companies and individuals “are associated
with the scandal”.
BSS/AFP/BZC/1820HRS