Islamabad, April 4: A Pakistani court Thursday issued a notice to former president Asif Ali Zardari on a petition seeking his disqualification as a lawmaker for hiding assets worth over $1 million including a flat in New York and bulletproof vehicles in the election nomination papers last year.
The petition was filed by the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders Khurram Sher Zaman and Usman Dar. Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Athar Minallah said Parliament is the right forum for such matters but issued a notification to 63-year-old Zardari who is also the co-chairman of the Opposition Pakistan Peoples Party.
The petitioners alleged that the former president owned a flat in New York which he failed to disclose while contesting elections held in 2018. They further alleged that Zardari was also the owner of two bulletproof vehicles which were not shown in his election papers.
The petition says that the assets are worth Rs 143.7 million (over $1.09 million). Zardari was elected as a member of the National Assembly from the NA-213 Nawabshah seat of Sindh province in last year’s general election.
Under the law, a candidate should reveal all his properties or he would be disqualified. Zardari, who was the 11th president of Pakistan from 2008 to 2013, has rejected the allegations, saying it was part of a vilification campaign by the ruling party to malign opposition leaders. Last month, Zardari and his son Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari appeared before the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in connection with an alleged loan obtained by the Park Lane Estate Company, a Karachi-based real estate firm co-owned by them.