An accountability court in Islamabad has decided to postpone the indictment of former president Asif Ali Zardari and others till July 6 when Zardari would be indicted via video link, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
During the hearing on Friday, the court accepted an application to exempt Zardari from appearing in person for health reasons.
The defence counsel, Farooq H Naek, informed the accountability judge, Azam Khan, that former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani had contracted coronavirus after attending the court hearings [in the Toshakhana case].
Naek said it was difficult for his client to travel, as he was an aged person, making him more vulnerable to the coronavirus.
At this, the judge asked the counsel whether he didn’t care about his life as he had been appearing before the court. “When you have been appearing [in person] then call Asif Ali Zardari too,” he said and added that the court could get the former president’s signature in a separate room in case the problem was serious.
When the court asked whether Zardari was admitted in a health facility, Naek said the hospital had told his client to stay at home because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Zardari was at his home in Karachi, he said, adding that the entire world was facing an extraordinary situation due to the pandemic.
The former president, his sister Faryal Talpur and other accused face charges of corruption through fake bank accounts and embezzlement in the financial facility for Park Lane Private Limited and Parthenon (Pvt) Limited. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) alleged that the national exchequer suffered a loss of Rs3.77 billion because of the irregularities.