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[Mishkat]

A Swiss investigating magistrate said today that he had amassed enough evidence, including the purchase of a diamond necklace, to indict Pakistan's former Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto, on money-laundering charges tied to contracts with two Geneva-based companies.

The magistrate, Daniel Devaud, decided not to bring the charges against Ms. Bhutto in Switzerland, but rather to ask Pakistani authorities to indict her.

''She is not able to leave the country to defend herself, so I have asked Pakistan to bring the charges,'' Judge Devaud said. Ms. Bhutto was forced from office in November 1996 amid corruption charges and has since had her travels restricted by Pakistani Government authorities.

The Geneva magistrate has been conducting a wide-ranging inquiry seeking to account for more than $13.7 million frozen by Swiss authorities last fall. The money was allegedly stashed in Swiss banks by Ms. Bhutto and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari.

Judge Devaud, who indicted three others in the case in June, also asked Pakistan last month to indict Mr. Zardari on similar charges.

It is unclear if or how soon Pakistani investigators would act on the Swiss request, or even whether Ms. Bhutto could be tried for a breach of Swiss law in a Pakistani court.

The Swiss request -- which concerns a relatively small portion of the vast wealth the Bhuttos have amassed -- may be far down on the list of concerns for the Pakistani investigators. Only last week, they brought the first criminal charges against Ms. Bhutto in their efforts to track down what they estimate is $1.5 billion the couple received in bribes, kickbacks and commissions in a variety of enterprises.

Judge Devaud said that part of some 150 pages of evidence sent to Pakistan included documentation of the purchase of a $188,370 diamond necklace. That money, he emphasized, was only a small part of the funds his investigation has uncovered. He declined to give an exact figure, but said the amount was in excess of $10 million.

The money, investigators say, came from payments made by Societe Generale de Surveillance Holding S.A. and Cotecna Inspection S.A., two of the world's leading goods inspections companies, to a Bhutto family lawyer, who deposited them in offshore accounts.

Since freezing the Bhutto accounts last fall, Swiss authorities have cast a wide net for criminal wrongdoing. This spring, officials disclosed that they had been investigating whether any money in the Swiss accounts came from drug trafficking as well.

Carla del Ponte, the Swiss Federal Prosecutor, asked the country's banks to review their records to match accounts with a list of Pakistani nationals. The list included the names of some 350 people or organizations, including military officers, politicians, government officials and close advisers to Ms. Bhutto.

Swiss banks had until the end of May to respond, but the findings are confidential, the prosecutor's office said. Canvassing the banks, argued Ms. Bhutto's lawyer, Dominique Poncet, is ''completely unfounded.'' Ms. Bhutto has denied the corruption charges, calling them a political vendetta.

Since the fall, Judge Devaud says he has found additional Bhutto accounts, but has released no official overall amount held in them. Pakistani investigators insist that some $500 million has been uncovered in 19 Swiss bank accounts. The proceeds, they say, are from Ms. Bhutto's cuts on Government contracts and drug deals, however this amount has not been confirmed by the Swiss.

Pakistan's anti-corruption team, headed by Saifur Rehman, has been focusing on money and property that Ms. Bhutto and her husband stowed abroad in their names or in the name of Ms. Bhutto's mother, Nusrat Bhutto. In addition to Swiss accounts, six properties and seven bank accounts in Britain have been located, Mr. Rehman said.

In addition to Ms. Bhutto and her husband, the three others indicted include a Bhutto lawyer, Jens Schlegelmilch, and two top executives of the goods-inspections companies.

According to Judge Devaud, the indictments center on the commissions paid by the companies for Pakistan's inspection business. One company, Societe Generale de Surveillance, has been embroiled in a dispute with Pakistan following the cancellation of its contract.

One of those indicted on money laundering charges is former head of Government contracts for the company, Hans Fischer. Investigators allege that he paid money to Mariston Securities, an offshore company controlled by Mr. Zardari, as commissions or kickbacks for contracts awarded.

According to documents made public by Pakistani investigators, Societe Generale de Surveillance and Cotecna, its subsidiary at the time, pledged to pay commissions to offshore companies incorporated in the names of Mr. Zardari and Nusrat Bhutto. The commissions or fees ranged between 3 percent and 6 percent. From 1995 to 1997, the two firms inspected more than $15.4 billion in imports into Pakistan.

Societe Generale de Surveillance officials have defended Mr. Fischer, and said the company ''was not used as a laundering machine.''

Also indicted was Robert Massey, head of Cotecna. He has maintained that his family company, which operates in 50 countries worldwide, acted legally. ''We don't pay any bribes and we never will,'' he said in an interview in June.

While it is unclear whether charges based on violations of Swiss law could be tried outside the country, winning any such conviction would depend on a successful criminal case against Ms. Bhutto and her husband in Pakistan. This is because Swiss money-laundering law requires that the underlying legal offense, usually corruption or bribery, be proved in the country in which it occurred.

''You can't launder money unless it's a result of a crime,'' said Mr. Schlegelmilch, the Bhutto family lawyer.

[$herry]

I dun wana talk reg Mr. 10% ...lol

[Mishkat]

15 Questions For Mr. Asif Ali Zardari

1.With the NRO still around, striking down all corruption cases, and having become president of PPP and also having sole control over all of Benazir’s property and assets, is there anyone in the world who has benefited more from late Benazir’s death than Mr. Zardari? Does it not make him Suspect Number One for her murder, especially when he is also facing various murder charges, including that for murder of Mir Murtaza Bhutto? Mr. Zardari is already implicated in a murder case.

2. Benazir knew about the workers’ and her party leaders’ reservations about Mr. Zardari. Why did she not consult or even share this decision with the Central Executive Committee (CEC) of the party? And if not the CEC, is there any person in the whole world who can testify that she shared with him or her, the decision that, after her death, Mr. Asif Zardari will to lead the party?

3.If Benazir was so careful to write a will, then what was so secret about it? She should have taken the CEC into confidence or announce it at a rally, to protect
Mr. Zardari from any later claims that the will is fake.

4.Keeping secret the contents of the will must have been a huge burden for Mr. Zardari. From 18th October till her murder, did Mr. Zardari share with any person Benazir’s will or decision that in case of her death, she wanted him to lead the party?

5.Why has Mr. Zardari not made the whole document, the will, public? On the excuse of the document being the property of Bilawal, Mr. Zardari has kept hidden that document in his pocket on the basis of which he has claimed to be head of one of the largest parties in Pakistan. The will makes all the difference. Why is it a secret?

6.Why would Benazir want her father’s party to be headed by a man who didn’t love or respect her and who she did not even think worthy of giving him a party ticket for running as a Member of National Assembly?

7.The foundation of all murder investigations is the postmortem. It confirms cause of death, which then becomes the focus of all investigation. It was not any Pakistan Muslim League party official or government official, but it was Mr. Zardari himself who stopped the authorities from conducting a postmortem and buried Benazir Bhutto without it. What did he have to hide, if anything at all?

8.Why is it that since her arrival in Pakistan on the 18th of October and till her assassination on the 27th of December, Mr. Zardari was not by her side, looking after the security of his wife? Is it not the foremost responsibility of any husband to ensure safety of his wife? Yet when it came to ensuring her burial without a postmortem and taking over her party, he rushed to be in Pakistan in no time.

9.On the death of his beloved wife, has Mr. Asif Zardari skipped shaving for a single day? [This question may sound silly but it says a lot about the spouse’s mental condition after such a tragedy.]

10.The suicide bomber and the shooter(s) were working according to a plan. And their plan depended on Benazir coming out of the sunroof, with Makhdoom Amin Fahim safely inside. Why were they so sure that Benazir will come out? It was a gamble. Could it be possible that Mr. Fahim encouraged her to stand up and wave to party workers outside?

11.So far, the one person who has benefited most from that secret document, Benazir’s will, is the very person who is keeping custody of that document and who produced it at the time when CEC was in session to decide the question of party leadership. No one, not even any party leader, has read that document, let alone confirms that it is in Benazir’s handwriting.

12.Has Mr. Asif Zardari and Makhdoom Amin Fahim planned what they will do in case of Benazir’s murder? Why none of these two (future Chairman and future Prime Minister) looked confused or angry on the day of the murder? They worked together with strange smoothness and coordination. There was no outburst and no anger. Both knew their moves. Why was it that the only person who cried and showed anger at Benazir’s death was her biggest political rival, Mr. Nawaz Sharif, and not her husband?

13.After her death, what is Mr. Zardari going to do with the sale proceeds of Surrey Palace and other assets that the couple have all over the world?

14.Close party circles have information about the nature of relationship between Mr. Zardari and Benazir. Was he used to beating and abusing Benazir? Only party officials who were close to Benazir can shed light on this.

15.And, finally, is Mr. Zardari remarried to anyone else?