Asif Ali Zardari files another plea against Park Lane reference trial

ISLAMABAD : Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) co-chairman and former president Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday filed a new petition in accountability court to halt proceedings of Park Lane reference. The former president filed his plea through his counsel Farooq H Naek. During the hearing, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor  Sardar Muzaffar Abbasi raised objection over Zardari’s plea and termed it as a tactic to waste time of the court. “The plea should be rejected with heavy fine”, Abbasi added. Zardari, his sister Faryal Talpur and other accused face charges of corruption through fake bank accounts and embezzlement in the financial facility for Park Lane Private Limited and Parthenon (Pvt) Limited. According to the anti-graft watchdog, Asif Ali Zardari was allegedly running a fake front company by the name of Parathon as a shareholder in Park Lane properties. A loan worth Rs 1.5 billion was taken from a bank and transferred to the company’s account in a private bank.