Bhutto wins corruption conviction appeal - spokesman

A Swiss court has quashed a six-month suspended prison sentence against former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto for allegedly laundering millions of pounds while she was in power, her spokesman said today.

Swiss prosecutors were not immediately available to verify the report.

Bhutto and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, were convicted by an investigating magistrate in July of hiding the money in Swiss accounts while she was prime minister from 1993 to 1996.

Bhutto lives in self-imposed exile in Britain and the United Arab Emirates. Zardari is serving a seven-year prison term in Pakistan on corruption charges.

Her spokesman, Farhatullah Babar said the police court in Geneva upheld Bhutto’s appeal against the ruling.

Geneva’s chief prosecutor can still decided to take the case to a higher court, but it was not immediately clear if he would do so.

At Pakistan’s request, Switzerland in 1997 froze the Geneva accounts of Bhutto, Zardari and Bhutto’s mother, Nusrat Bhutto. Swiss authorities said in 1998 they had found about €11.7m in accounts belonging to Bhutto and her family.

Investigators alleged that much of the money came from kickbacks made by a Swiss company in exchange for a business contract, but the Bhuttos denied wrongdoing.

Babar said he hoped Pakistani authorities would drop their legal action.

Part of the Swiss case against Bhutto was based on allegations that she used ill-gotten funds to buy jewellery, including a €165,000 diamond necklace. She has denied this.

Pakistani authorities have accused Bhutto of various kinds of corruption, including making illegal appointments, illegally amassing wealth and receiving commissions and bribes while awarding government contracts to foreign firms.

Bhutto said the allegations were meant to ruin her political career.