Pakistani Prime Minister Yusaf Raza Gilani was indicted by the Supreme Court on contempt charges, the LA Times is reporting. He is accused of repeatedly ignoring the court’s orders to revive long-standing corruption proceedings against President Asif Ali Zardari.
Gilani is now facing a trial in the coming weeks. If convicted, he will face being disqualified from office for five years, and may be sentenced for up to six months in prison. He would also be Pakistan’s first prime minister to be indicted while in office.
The indictment comes after Gilani refused to tell the seven-judge panel at the Supreme Court that he would comply with its order to write a letter to Swiss authorities. The letter would ask they reopen an old money-laundering case against Zardari. Instead, Gilani pleaded not guilty after Justice Nasirul Mulk described the charges.
Zardari was convicted in absentia in 2003, along with his late wife, former Prime Minister Benazi Bhutto, of laundering millions of dollars from Swiss firms when she was in office. She was assassinated in 2007, and he later assumed leadership of her party and the presidency a year later.
At the request of the Pakistani government in 2008, Swiss authorities dropped the case. Gilani has consistently stood by the president’s claim that he can’t be prosecuted while in office. He added that he would rather go to jail on a contempt conviction than pursue reopening the case.
Written by: Karen Benardello
