English
Switzerland Frees $60 Million in Zardari’s Assets
FRANKFURT — Switzerland has released millions of dollars in assets belonging to Asif Ali Zardari, a leading Pakistani politician who is expected to be named the country’s president next week, Swiss authorities said.
Mr. Zardari’s accounts were frozen in 1997 at the request of Pakistani authorities investigating allegations that Mr. Zardari had received kickbacks while he was a government official and his wife, Benazir Bhutto, was prime minister. In June, Pakistan’s attorney general notified the Swiss that he was no longer investigating Mr. Zardari, who leads one of the country’s largest political parties. The attorney general wrote that neither Mr. Zardari nor Ms. Bhutto had done anything illegal, and that the charges had been politically motivated, the Swiss prosecutor general, Daniel Zappelli, said Wednesday in a telephone interview. As a result, the Swiss dropped a money-laundering case against Mr. Zardari and released his assets. “For money laundering to be proven, you have to show it was the product of a crime, but we don’t have any evidence for a crime committed in Pakistan,” Mr. Zappelli said. The value of the assets is about $60 million, said a Swiss official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the figure had not been disclosed publicly. The Swiss action came as a shock to Daniel Devaud, the judge in Geneva who originally investigated the charges. He said it should not be interpreted as a sign of Mr. Zardari’s innocence. “It would be very difficult to say that there is nothing in the files that shows there was possibly corruption going on after what I have seen in there,” Mr. Devaud said in a telephone interview. “After I heard what the general prosecutor said, I have the feeling we are talking about two different cases.” Mr. Zardari and Ms. Bhutto were suspected of using Swiss bank accounts to launder millions of dollars, allegedly bribes paid by companies seeking customs inspection contracts in Pakistan in the 1990s. Ms. Bhutto, who was killed in December, and Mr. Zardari always denied the allegations, saying they were politically motivated. Militants Killed in Attacks ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — The Pakistani military fought Taliban members attacking a fort and struck another band of militants holed up in a health center, officials said Wednesday. The military said it repulsed the attack late Tuesday on the fort, in South Waziristan, killing 11 militants. As many as 30 insurgents were killed in the strike on the health center in Bajur where they had taken shelter, the military said. Spokesmen for the insurgent groups could not be contacted to discuss the claims. Subscribe=>
Source: NYT More Top News
Hollywood heavyweights Robert De Niro and Al Pacino reunited on the red carpet in New York Wednesday night for the premiere of their new crime thriller “Righteous Kill” — their first film together since making 1995’s “Heat.”
The movie also stars
The Pakistani Army has been given orders to retaliate against any unilateral strike by the Afghanistan-based US troops inside the country.
Army Spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas confirmed the orders in a brief interview with Geo News on late Thursday night.
The
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev says he will not accept military action or new sanctions against Iran over its nuclear activities.
“We should not take any unilateral steps. It is not acceptable to opt for a military scenario. It would be dangerous,”
As the world marks the seventh anniversary of 9/11, some European experts say security improvements in the US have been undercut by fairly basic mistakes. Among the remedies is more trust in America’s laws and allies.
Seven years after the attacks
David Miliband has allegedly come in for a rather undiplomatic tongue-lashing from his Russian counterpart.
The Foreign Secretary was apparently given a furious dressing down by Sergei Lavrov over the telephone.
Mr Miliband’s criticism of Russia’s recent incursion into Georgia is believed
PIETERMARITZBURG, South Africa - A South African judge ruled Friday that prosecutors were wrong to charge ANC President Jacob Zuma with corruption, effectively clearing way for the 66-year-old former freedom fighter to become the country’s next president.
Judge Chris Nicholson’s ruling
Thailand’s political turmoil deepened Friday when the ruling coalition failed to turn up to parliament to reelect leader Samak Sundaravej as prime minister.
Lawmakers from the six-party coalition did not attend an emergency session of parliament called to choose a prime minister, three days after a court stripped Samak of power for accepting payments for hosting