Pakistan court orders arrest of ex-PM Gilani in corruption case

A Pakistani anti-corruption court on Thursday issued non-bailable arrest warrants against former prime minister Yusuf Raza Gilani and former trade minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim for allegedly minting money by approving subsidies to fake companies.

The court issued arrest orders after the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) presented a formal charge sheet of 12 cases registered against the duo and some senior officials of Trade Development Authority Pakistan (TDAP).

Gilani and Fahim are named in a multi-million-rupee graft scandal for alleged corrupt earnings by approving subsidies to fake companies through a scheme of TDAP. FIA charged them for approving and disbursing fraudulent trade subsidies worth millions of rupees to several fake companies through fictitious claims and backdated cheques. 

Both Gilani and Faheem failed to appear before the court despite notices to them, forcing the court to issue their non-bailable arrest warrants. The court also ordered police to arrest them and present them before the court in the next hearing on September 10.

Gilani, 63, was prime minister from 2008 to 2013 when he was sacked after the Supreme Court held him responsible for defying an order of the court to write a letter to the Swiss government to reopen a corruption probe against then President Asif Ali Zardari.

Both Gilani and Faheem are senior leaders of Zardari's Pakistan People's Party (PPP). Apart from the two leaders implicated in the corruption case, authorities yesterday also arrested a confidant of Zardari, an ex-petroleum minister Asim Hussain from Karachi for alleged involvement in corruption.