Zardari gets 'clean man' stamp following Swiss refusal to re-open $60 mln money laundering case

Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has become a 'clean' man in a 60 million dollars money-laundering case after the Swiss Government refused to re-open the case.

The Swiss Government had sent a letter to the PML-N Government informing about the development after the case was closed by a Swiss court after lapse of a specific period.

In February this year, the Swiss Government told the PPP-led government about the letter and conveyed its contents, but it was officially opened on Tuesday by Law Minister Zahid Hamid, the Dawn News reports.

Hamid did not say anything about the PML-N government's future line of action on the case, which is being tried by local courts also.

He said that Pakistan's embassy in Switzerland has been asked to send some relevant documents about the case.

According to the report, Zardari and Benazir Bhutto were accused of purchasing Surrey Palace through 'illegal' money.

During proceedings of the case, the Swiss authorities liquidated the property because Zardari and Bhutto did not own it and the money obtained through its sale was deposited in a Swiss bank, the report said.

Former law minister Farooq H. Naek, on a directive of the Supreme Court, had written a letter to the Swiss government in December 2012 for reopening the case and the Swiss authorities replied on February 9.

Sources in the law ministry said that according to the letter, the case was timed-barred and after expiry of a specific period it could not be reopened by the Swiss court.