Govt to oppose handover of BB jewellery

ISLAMABAD: A letter written by PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari to the Swiss authorities to seek return of confiscated jewellery of his late wife Benazir Bhutto is set to spark a legal battle in Switzerland because the government has decided to oppose the move. “We will contest the claim of Mr Zardari and oppose the handover of the jewellery to him,” Federal Law Secretary Barrister Zafarullah Khan told Dawn, confirming that he had received a formal communication from Switzerland. He said that the Swiss authorities would be requested to hand over the jewellery or any other valuables in their possession to the Pakistan government. Asked on what grounds the government would make a claim on the jewellery, he said that he could not comment on technical grounds because a case would be prepared by a legal team. The jewellery, including a necklace worth over $300,000, had reportedly been confiscated by the Swiss court as “case property” in 1997 during the hearing of money laundering cases against the former prime minister and her husband. A law ministry official said that he had received an email last week from a lawyer belonging to the firm hired by the government to pursue cases in Switzerland, which said that the Swiss authorities had received the request from Mr Zardari. But he did not disclose whether the request had been made by Mr Zardari himself or by any other person on his behalf. The official said that the Swiss authorities had sought a reply from the government as it was a party in the cases filed against the PPP leaders in 1990s. “Switzerland needs Islamabad’s response because the jewellery was confiscated as case property during the investigation. But all charges, including those relating to corruption, were dropped in 2007 under the National Reconciliation Ordinance,” he said. Mr Zardari’s spokesman Senator Farhatullah Khan Babar said that he was not aware about any letter written by Mr Zardari to the Swiss authorities. Farooq Naek, former law minister and counsel for Mr Zardari, could not be contacted for comments despite repeated attempts. The PPP did not issue any contradiction of a report about the letter, which was a regular feature during evening transmission of TV channels.