Switzerland denies Pak government's request to re-open Zardari's time-barred graft cases

The Swiss authorities have denied the request of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government to reopen the pending graft cases against former president Asif Ali Zardari saying that the cases are time-barred as per their rules.

Ministry of Law and Justice was conveyed that its request to reopen the cases could not be entertained amid Switzerland's policies, the Nation reports.

The decision came the same day as the PML-N and the PPP parties agreed on a chief nominee for National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

According to the report, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif would decide a new course of action after consulting legal aides to re-open graft cases worth 60 million dollars against Zardari.

The government had earlier constituted a two-man probe team, which held former law secretary Yasmin Abbasi responsible for the missing documents pertaining to the revival of graft cases against Zardari in Switzerland.

The committee was mandated to establish facts about the missing records of the earlier letter written by the Swiss authorities to the government of Pakistan on February 4, 2013, the report added.

However, the committee has not been able to find any direct evidence that the February 4 decision was ever conveyed to Islamabad before June 16.