Pakistan’s top court yesterday summoned new Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf to appear later this month to face possible contempt charges, the clearest sign yet it could dismiss a second prime minister in a showdown over corruption cases.
The Supreme Court — which disqualified and convicted former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani over the issue — summoned his successor on Aug. 27 for ignoring a request to ask Swiss authorities to reopen cases against Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari.
It is the latest episode in a two-and-a-half-year saga in which the government has resisted demands to have Zardari investigated, arguing that as head of state he enjoys immunity.
The government is due to become the first in Pakistan’s history to complete an elected, full five-year mandate in February next year, but the showdown could force polls before then.
The court had given Ashraf until yesterday to write to Switzerland and last week struck down a new law passed by parliament that sought to exempt members of the government from contempt trials, clearing the way for legal proceedings against the prime minister.
Pakistani Judge Asif Saeed Khosa said Ashraf had been given notice “under [the] contempt of court act 2003, read with article 204 of the constitution to show cause as to why he may not be proceeded [against] in contempt of court by not complying [with the] relevant direction of the court.”
“He shall appear in person at the next date of hearing. Hearing adjourned until August 27,” Khosa added.
Critics of the judiciary and members of Zardari’s main ruling Pakistan People’s Party accuse the court of over stepping its reach and waging a personal vendetta against the president.
The government had wanted the case adjourned until next month. Attorney general Irfan Qadir said he needed time “to bridge the gap” between the two sides and “find an amicable solution.”
Experts say Ashraf will be asked to explain his position on Aug. 27. If the court is not satisfied, he risks being summoned to be indicted for contempt, precipitating the second contempt trial against a sitting prime minister in just months.
The allegations against Zardari date back to the 1990s, when he and his wife, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, were suspected of using Swiss bank accounts to launder US$12 million allegedly paid in bribes by companies seeking customs inspection contracts.
The Swiss shelved the cases in 2008 when Zardari became president and the government insists the president has full immunity as head of state.
However, in 2009 the Supreme Court overturned a political amnesty that had frozen investigations into the president and other politicians, ordering that the cases be reopened.
Zardari had already signed the contempt law, which sought to exempt government figures, including the president, prime minister and ministers from contempt for acts performed as part of their job.
Kouri Richins, a Utah mother who published a children’s book about grief after the death of her husband is to serve a life sentence for his murder without the possibility of parole, a judge ruled on Wednesday. Richins was convicted in March of aggravated murder for lacing a cocktail given to her husband, Eric Richins, with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl at their home near Park City in 2022. A jury also found her guilty of four other felonies, including insurance fraud, forgery and attempted murder for trying to poison her husband weeks earlier on Feb. 14, 2022, with a
‘PERSONAL MISTAKES’: Eileen Wang has agreed to plead guilty to the felony, which comes with a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison A southern California mayor has agreed to plead guilty to acting as an illegal agent for the Chinese government and has resigned from her city position, officials said on Monday. Eileen Wang (王愛琳), mayor of Arcadia, was charged last month with one count of acting in the US as an illegal agent of a foreign government. She was accused of doing the bidding of Chinese officials, such as sharing articles favorable to Beijing, without prior notification to the US government as required by law. The 58-year-old was elected in November 2022 to a five-person city council, from which the mayor is selected
DELA ROSA CASE: The whereabouts of the senator, who is wanted by the ICC, was unclear, while President Marcos faces a political test over the senate situation Philippine authorities yesterday were seeking confirmation of reports that a top politician wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) had fled, a day after gunfire rang out at the Philippine Senate where he had taken refuge fearing his arrest. Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, the former national police chief and top enforcer of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s “war on drugs,” has been under Senate protection and is wanted for crimes against humanity, the same charges Duterte is accused of. “Several sources confirmed that the senator, Senator Bato, is no longer in the Senate premises, but we are still getting confirmation,” Presidential
HELP DENIED? The US Department of State said that the Cuban leadership refuses to allow the US to provide aid to Cubans, ‘who are in desperate need of assistance’ US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday said that Cuba’s leadership must change, as Washington renewed an offer of US$100 million in aid if the communist nation agrees to cooperate. Cuba has been suffering severe economic tumult led by an energy shortage that plunged 65 percent of the country into darkness on Tuesday. Cuba’s leaders have blamed US sanctions, but Rubio, a Cuban American and critic of the government established by Fidel Castro, said the system was to blame, including corruption by the military. “It’s a broken, nonfunctional economy, and it’s impossible to change it. I wish it were different,” he told
RSS