The Supreme Court of Pakistan will announce its opinion in a contempt of court case against Yousuf Raza Gilani who is President of Pakistan on Thursday, his lawyer said on Tuesday.
The Prime Minister was charged with contempt by the Supreme Court of Pakistan in February for rejecting to note to the Swiss authorities to against President Asif Ali Zardari.
Counsel Aitzaz Ahsan told trusted reporters in Islamabad that “The Supreme Court of Pakistan will announce judgment in the case on Thursday in April 26” .Asked if Gilani will appear in person, he said – I will inform him about it today and he will inshallah come to the court.” He said the maximum torments Gilani could face if convicted was six month in prison, but he was hopeful the judges would acquit his client.
Yousuf Raza Gilani is Pakistan’s first sitting premier ever to face criminal charges and if he is given a jail sentence he could be disqualified from office .
The Swiss shelved the cases against Zardari in 2008 when he became President and a prosecutor in Switzerland has said it will be impossible to re open them as long as he remains head of state and is immune from prosecution.
Gilani insists that Zardari has full immunity. But in December 2009 The Supreme Court of Pakistan overturned a two year political amnesty that had frozen investigations into Zardari and other politicians.
Zardari and his late wife former premier Benazir Bhutto, were suspected of using Swiss accounts to launder about $12 million allegedly paid in bribes by companies seeking customs inspection contracts in the 1999s.
The president who is so tained by graft allegations that his nickname is “Mr. 10 percent” has already spent 11 years in jail on charges ranging from corruption to murder.
