ISLAMABAD: Swiss authorities have dismissed Pakistan’s appeal to reopen investigation into alleged corruption by former president Asif Ali Zardari, saying the government did not submit plea within the time frame.

The National Accountabiliy Bureau (NAB) in its reply to the Supreme Court of Pakistan said the anti-graft watchdog had to close its National Reconciliation Ordinance inquiry in 2012 due to dismissal of the plea by the Swiss government.

The report also stated that there was no available record of the loss to the national exchequer in cases closed under the NRO in 2007, adding that further details were being collected.

The graft cases were shelved in 2007 after then attorney general Malik Qayum wrote letters to the Swiss authorities following the promulgation of the NRO by then-president Musharraf. The Supreme Court, however, scrapped the NRO in 2009 and declared that all cases closed under the defunct law stood open. NNI