Swiss prosecutors formally refuse to reopen 'cleared' Zardari's corruption case

The Swiss prosecutors have declared Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari 'free of charges' and have refused to reopen a probe into the alleged corruption case involving Zardari and his late wife Benazir Bhutto in 1990.

The prosecutors said that the decision was taken on 4th February this year but made publicly 'official' only now in the light of the street protests in Pakistan, The Dawn reports.

Zardari and Bhutto were alleged to have siphoned 12 million dollars in state cash in 1990s when Zardari served as a government minister and Bhutto was a premier.

The report said that owing to the photographs showing anti-Zardari protestors burning Switzerland's flag at a rally in Pakistan prompted the prosecutors to make the decision.

Additionally, the Swiss prosecutors also pointed that lack of new evidence in the case, which was dropped in 2008 made the authorities unable to reopen the case for investigation.

The Swiss prosecutors further said that since the alleged offense took place more than 15 years earlier meant that the statue of limitations had expired.

They added that just a month after filing renewed request for probe, Pakistan sent them another letter to pay no heed to it as it was linked to domestic politics, thereby abusing the legal system, the report said.