Swiss judge overstepping brief: Bhutto

ISLAMABAD, AUG 20: Former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has strongly denied that she is guilty of taking bribes while in office ...

ISLAMABAD, AUG 20: Former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has strongly denied that she is guilty of taking bribes while in office and has instead questioned the activities of the Swiss judge seeking her indictment, saying that he is overstepping his authority.

“I have done nothing wrong,” Bhutto told reporters in Karachi on Thursday replying to questions regarding news that a Swiss judge is asking Pakistani officials to indict Bhutto on money laundering charges.

“I have been defamed, my reputation has been damaged and the Swiss magistrate has behaved improperly and inappropriately by going to the press,” said Bhutto. She also called on the Swiss Government to investigate the conduct of Judge Devaud, the investigating magistrate who said in Geneva on Wednesday that he had enough evidence to charge Bhutto in Switzerland but that it was impossible at the moment to bring the former Pakistani Prime Minister to Switzerland to face the charges.

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Pakistani authorities have blocked Bhutto from leavingthe country because of the cases she is facing within Pakistan. Bhutto says that the cases are part of a political vendetta launched against her by the Government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

The judge said he is asking for Bhutto indictment over Bhutto’s dealings with two Swiss firms, Societe Generale de Surveillance (SGS) and its former subsidiary Cotecna Inspection SA. Both companies are accused of paying kick-backs to the Bhutto Government for securing a contract for pre-shipment inspection in Pakistan.

Last month, Devaud indicted Bhutto’s husband, Asif Ali Zardari, on similar charges. Pakistani officials said they had given Devaud numerous documents that showed that Zardari and Bhutto had used Swiss connections to receive kick backs on Pakistan Government contracts with the firms. Cotecna has denied that any of its employees violated national and international laws in the case. SGS has launched an internal investigation.

Bhutto said on Thursday that Devaud had bypassed the Swiss Constitution bypressing an indictment without giving her the chance of an appeal before a Swiss federal court. She also said that Devaud had wrongly supplied documents and sent letters to Pakistan when there was no case against her in her home country.

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She said the magistrate should not have sent documents to Pakistan when other respondents in indictments related to the same contracts had launched appeals in the Swiss courts.

Bhutto said “One day the truth will come out. I am sad that I am being damaged so much between that day and now.”