Writing to Swiss authorities will absolve Gilani of contempt charges: Pak SC

Islamabad -  Pakistan Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has said that if Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani wrote the letter to the Swiss authorities for re-opening graft cases against President Asif Zardari, the case would be settled.

An eight-judge bench of the Pakistan Supreme Court was hearing Gilani’s advocate Aitzaz Ahsan arguments, The Dawn reports.

Chaudhry said that Gilani should have taken the initiative in re-opening the cases.

The court said it had shown patience for two years and three months since it ordered that the matter should be taken up with the Swiss authorities.

Ahsan sated in his reply that the Swiss authorities had themselves closed the cases in 2008, when Zardari became president, on the grounds of immunity, and added that there was no third party to claim the funds.

Chuadhary also ordered Ahsan to remove certain objectionable paragraphs from the appeal.

He further said that a country’s prime minister should have high ethical standards and that the language of the appeal gave the impression that the premier wanted to influence the court’s judgment.

The appeal, citing a number of cases, requests the court to set aside the Feb 2 order of summoning Gilani on February 13, and the show-cause notice in the interest of justice and suspend the proceedings before the seven-judge bench hearing the contempt case.