Karachi:
The Federal Anti-Corruption Court acquitted the President of the Yousuf Raza Gilani Senate in nine cases linked to the Méga de Corruption de Pakistan (TDA) scandal.
The court announced its verdict Thursday on the pleads of Gilani. The PPP chief, who was the Prime Minister of the country between 2008 and 2012, appeared before the court at the hearing with other co-accused.
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had recorded 26 cases concerning the scandal. Gilani had already been acquitted in three of these cases before.
Addressing the media after the hearing, the president of the Senate said that he has been facing these cases for 12 years. “Some of those who were then students now appear as prosecutors in the case. The delay in justice is equivalent to the denial of justice,” he said.
Gilani’s lawyer Faroo H. Naek, addressing the media, said a total of 26 cases had been recorded in 2013-2014 despite the fact that similar allegations had been leveled in each of them.
“Yousuf Raza Gilani was accused of having received 5 million rupees [as kickback]Not directly but allegedly through a person named Zubair. No witness has ever said that Gilani had personally received the money. The court had already acquitted it in three cases. Now, nine additional acquittals have been granted, “he said.
Naek said the FIA appeal against the acquittals was pending before a high court.
