ISLAMABAD: The ministry of law stopped the National Accountability Bureau from directly approaching the Swiss government for reopening of money laundering cases against President Asif Ali Zardari in compliance with the Supreme Court order.

In a letter sent to NAB Chairman Naveed Ahsan, the ministry said since the bureau acted as a prosecuting agency while pursuing cases in another country, it could not ask for reopening of such cases on its own or without permission of the government.

“The reopening of Swiss cases is one of such matters that require state-to-state dealing,” a source said quoting from the letter.

However, the ministry’s letter is a clear contradiction of a section of the NAB Ordinance of 1999, which empowers the NAB chief to approach any foreign country in connection with its cases.

Section 21 of the ordinance says: “The Chairman (of) NAB or any officer authorised by the federal government may request a foreign state to do [any or all of] the following acts in accordance with the law of such state: To have evidence taken, or documents or other articles produced; to obtain and execute search warrants or other lawful instruments authorising search for things relevant to investigation or proceedings in Pakistan believed to be located in that state, and if found, seize them; to freeze assets, by whatever processes are lawfully available in that state, to the extent to which the assets are believed on reasonable grounds to be situated in that state; to confiscate articles and forfeit assets to the extent to which the articles or assets, as the case may be, are believed to be located in that state; to transfer to Pakistan any such evidence, documents, things articles, assets or proceeds realised from the disposal of such articles or assets; to transfer in custody to Pakistan a person detained in [that] state who consents to assist Pakistan in the relevant investigation or proceedings; notwithstanding anything contained in the Qanun-i-Shahadat Order 1984 (P.O. 10 of 1984) or any other law for the time being in force all evidence, documents or any other material transferred to Pakistan by a foreign government shall be receivable as evidence in legal proceedings under this Ordinance; and notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained hereinabove, the Chairman NAB may, on such terms and conditions as he deems fit, employ any person or organisation, whether in Pakistan or abroad, for detecting, tracing or identifying assets acquired by an accused in connection with an offence under this Ordinance, and secreted or hoarded abroad, or for recovery of and repatriation to Pakistan of such assets.”

The ministry wrote to the NAB chief in reply to his letter in which he had sought advice whether or not the bureau could directly approach the Swiss government under the Supreme Court directives.

Sources told ‘The Statesmen’ that the NAB chief was said to be in a quandary over the SC order for reopening cases against President Zardari because the government and the presidency believed that as the Swiss investigation magistrate was just conducting inquiries into the matter, there was never any proper cases.

They were of the opinion that being president of the country, Zardari enjoyed immunity and no case could be initiated against him.

According to sources, the government is not interested in reopening the cases against the president. And if it agrees to do so, the Foreign Office will contact Swiss authorities and then NAB can be asked to reactivate channels it had opened to pursue cases against PPP leaders since mid-90s and before promulgation of the National Reconciliation Ordinance in 2007.

ASSESSMENT: A senior official of the presidency said that President Zardari enjoyed immunity under Article 248 of the Constitution and now the fresh Supreme Court order was being assessed by the law division.

Benazir Bhutto and Zardari have been accused of depositing in Swiss banks millions of dollars they had allegedly received as kickbacks and commissions in SGS and Cotecna pre-shipment inspection deals.

Political analysts warn of a fresh confrontation between the judiciary and the government over the issue. On the one hand the Supreme Court is bent upon reopening the cases after scrapping of the NRO and, on the other, the government claims that Mr Zardari enjoys immunity.

The president’s spokesman, Farhatullah Babar, reiterated: “Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, on the floor of the house, has said that the government will fully comply with the Supreme Court order and the president enjoys complete immunity under Article 248 of the Constitution.”

It is expected that the Supreme Court will soon interpret the legal status of Swiss cases and the president to clear the ambiguity.

A source in the presidency said Swiss authorities were merely conducting inquiries, which never turned into cases.

Inquiries against Zardari and Bhutto were reportedly closed by the previous government on the directive of former president Pervez Musharraf before they could be turned into proper cases.