Pay back "looted" money and leave Pakistan: PM Khan to Zardari and Nawaz Sharif
Islamabad, Jul 2: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has declared that his government would not offer any amnesty to politicians like ex-president Asif Ali Zardari and premier Nawaz Sharif accused in corruption cases but if they returned the "looted money" under a plea bargain, they could leave the country.
Khan also revealed that the incarcerated former prime minister Sharif's sons tried to secure the release of their father with the help of "two friendly countries."
Khan did not reveal the names of the two countries but said they just conveyed him the message but did not press for Sharif's release.
"They told me that we will not interfere," said Khan, who was accompanied by the adviser on Finance, Hafeez Sheikh, and Federal Board of Revenue Chairman, Shabbar Zaidi.
Sharif, 69, has been serving a seven-year prison term at the Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore since December 24, 2018 when an accountability court convicted him in one of the three corruption cases filed in the wake of the apex court's July 28, 2017 order in the Panama Papers case.
Sharif and his family have denied any wrongdoing and alleged that the corruption cases against them were politically motivated.
In May, the apex court rejected Sharif's review petition seeking bail on medical grounds and permission to go abroad for medical treatment.
Khan said that those convicted for corruption would not be allowed to go away until they gave back the stolen money.
"They need to return the country's money first then they can go anywhere they want," he said.
"If Nawaz (Sharif) wants to go abroad for his medical treatment then he should return the looted money first and if Asif Ali Zardari has such an issue he should return the money," Khan told ARYNewsTV on Monday.
"The NRO will not be offered," he said, referring to a deal similar to the National Reconciliation Ordinance issued by former dictator Pervez Musharraf, under which cases against a large number of politicians and political workers were dropped.
"Two NROs issued by Musharraf to [PML-N's 'supreme leader'] Nawaz Sharif and [PPP Co-Chairman] Asif Ali Zardari destroyed the country... Later, both of them also gave NROs to each other," Khan said.
The prime minister added, "Money launderers are being kept as VIPs. I have asked the law ministry to shift them to a jail where regular prisoners are kept."
"A plea bargain can be allowed and no foreign country can do anything. They (Sharif and Zardari) will have to pay the money," he said.
Former president Zardari is in the custody of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for his role in three corruption cases.
He has been named in a multi-million dollar money laundering case along with his sister Faryal Talpur.
According to the NAB, the duo made transactions of Rs 150 million through alleged fake bank accounts.
Khan also spoke about the economy and said that it would improve as the difficult time was over.
Khan said his government had spent USD 10 billion on debt servicing on loans taken by the previous governments.
"A comprehensive plan is being devised including new legislation to control smuggling and money laundering," he said.
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Broken relationships don't automatically amount to abetment of suicide: SC
New Delhi (PTI): Broken relationships, while emotionally distressing, do not automatically amount to abetment of suicide in the absence of intention leading to the criminal offence, the Supreme Court on Friday said.
The observations came from a bench of Justices Pankaj Mithal and Ujjal Bhuyan in a judgement, which overturned the conviction of one Kamaruddin Dastagir Sanadi by the Karnataka High Court for the offences of cheating and abetment of suicide under the IPC.
"This is a case of a broken relationship, not criminal conduct," the judgment said.
Sanadi was initially charged under Sections 417 (cheating), 306 (abetment of suicide), and 376 (rape) of the IPC.
While the trial court acquitted him of all the charges, the Karnataka High Court, on the state's appeal, convicted him of cheating and abetment of suicide, sentencing him to five years imprisonment and imposing Rs 25,000 in fine.
According to the FIR registered at the mother's instance, her 21-year-old daughter was in love with the accused for the past eight years and died by suicide in August, 2007, after he refused to keep his promise to marry.
Writing a 17-page judgement, Justice Mithal analysed the two dying declarations of the woman and noted that neither was there any allegation of a physical relationship between the couple nor there was any intentional act leading to the suicide.
The judgement therefore underlined broken relationships were emotionally distressing, but did not automatically amount to criminal offences.
"Even in cases where the victim dies by suicide, which may be as a result of cruelty meted out to her, the courts have always held that discord and differences in domestic life are quite common in society and that the commission of such an offence largely depends upon the mental state of the victim," said the apex court.
The court further said, "Surely, until and unless some guilty intention on the part of the accused is established, it is ordinarily not possible to convict him for an offence under Section 306 IPC.”
The judgement said there was no evidence to suggest that the man instigated or provoked the woman to die by suicide and underscored a mere refusal to marry, even after a long relationship, did not constitute abetment.
