PPP co-chairman cleared in another graft case

A Pakistani anti-corruption court today cleared PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari in a graft case while reserving its judgment in another case against him till Friday.

Last week, anti-corruption courts in Rawalpindi had dropped five of the seven cases against Zardari.

The decision was in line with the Supreme Court's last month order upholding the controversial National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) passed in October by President Pervez Musharraf to grant amnesty in graft cases to a few PPP leaders, including Zardari and his slain wife Benazir Bhutto.

After the court upheld the NRO, the National Accountability Bureau decided to terminate the several corruption cases it had pursued against Zardari for over a decade.

Zardari had spent over eight years in prison following his arrest in connection with these cases. But his lawyer had said the charges were "politically motivated and baseless".

When the remaining two cases came up for hearing today in the court of Judge Sagheer Quadri, one was quashed while a decision in the other was reserved till Friday.