Pakistan: Court excludes 2 politicians from graft case

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) - The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Monday ordered the government to exclude two key opposition leaders from a money laundering scandal.

A three-member bench also removed the names of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, chairman of the center-left Pakistan People's Party, and Murad Ali Shah, chief minister of the southern Sindh province, from a no-fly list, court records and local media reported.

Suspects on the list are not allowed to travel abroad until the completion of ongoing investigations against them.

The apex court's decision is seen as a big relief for the embattled party whose entire leadership, including Asif Ali Zardari, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari's father and former president of the country, was accused of being involved in a money laundering scandal.

The court directed the country's corruption watchdog National Accountability Bureau to launch a fresh inquiry into the scandal which involves Zardari, her sister Faryal Talpur and over 150 other party leaders, bankers and bureaucrats -- and wrap up the case in two months.

The opposition accuses the government of launching a “one-sided” campaign and turning a blind eye to its own ministers, including a sister of the prime minister, who are facing different inquiries for corruption and hiding assets.

The government has already filed a reference against embattled Zardari to seek his disqualification for allegedly hiding foreign assets.

Zardari was elected as a member of the lower house -- the National Assembly -- from his hometown Nawabshah of southern Sindh province in the general elections last year.

The corruption-tainted former president is also facing inquiry in a money-laundering scam, which involves transactions of billions of rupees through fake accounts.