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Zardari got kickbacks in French sub deal: Report
World’s Most Powerful
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Top Lankan army general Fonseka quits
2 PPP workers receive burns during protest
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Zardari got kickbacks in French sub deal: Report
The Pakistan government has rubbished a report in a French daily accusing President Asif Ali Zardari and military authorities of having received millions of dollars in kickbacks from the 1994 sale of three French submarines to the Pakistan Navy. “This is actually new regurgitation of an old story which was branded untrue, malicious and mischievous by French President in July this year. It’s part of a media trial of PPP leadership which we condemn and dismiss with the contempt it deserves,” Presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar said. According to the report in French daily Liberation, Zardari is suspected of having received millions of dollars in kickbacks from the 1994 submarines’ deal. In addition, investigators believe that the non-payment of the full amount of the agreed kickbacks may have led to the death of 11 French nationals in a 2002 terror attack in Karachi. The newspaper says it has acquired documents that show that Zardari allegedly received $4.3 million from the sale of three Agosta-90 submarines for 825 million euros (currently $1.237 billion). The documents which were sent to the Pakistani National Accountability Bureau (NAB) by British authorities in April 2001 indicate that Zardari received several large payments into his Swiss bank accounts from a Lebanese businessman, Abdulrahman Al-Assir, in 1994 and 1995, claimed the daily. Commenting on the report, the spokesman said the purchase of equipment by the armed forces of Pakistan was done through a proper competitive process under the supervision of the Ministry of Defence. “Zardari was neither the President nor the Prime Minister nor the Defence Minister when the submarines referred to in the news item were purchased. The then ‘Admiral’ responsible for this purchase was investigated by the accountability bureau. But no allegation of misdoing could be established by the investigation authorities against Zardari,” the spokesman added. Regarding the alleged killing of French nationals in Karachi, the spokesman said President Zardari was in prison in 2002 when the incident took place. “This indicates the motive behind levelling such baseless allegations. How can a person in prison arrange such high-profile killings,” he said. In 2001, Pakistani Navy’s former chief of staff Mansour-ul-Haq was arrested for his part in the deal and forced to repay $7 million, the daily says. Legal proceedings against Zardari were dropped in April 2008 under the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), months before he was elected as President. He was imprisoned from 1997 to 2004 on corruption charges unrelated to this affair. The President, according to the report, is one of his country’s richest men, with a net worth estimated at $1.8 billion. Asked to comment on the report, former premier and chief of the PML-N Nawaz Sharif said the allegations should be investigated through an impartial commission.
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World’s Most Powerful
New York, November 12
Obama is followed by Chinese President Hu Jintao and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in the Forbes annual rankings that also features world's most wanted terrorist Osama bin Laden. Among the four Indians, Manmohan Singh has been ranked highest at 36th position, while the country's top corporate house Reliance Industries' chief Mukesh Ambani finds himself ranked 44th ahead of Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata (59th). Ranked very next to Manmohan Singh is al-Qaida founder Osama bin Laden at 37th place, while Indian underworld don Dawood Ibrahim is at 50th position. Dawood, head of the infamous 'D-Company', is wanted by India in connection with the 1993 serial blasts in Mumbai and has been listed by the US as 'Specially Designated Global Terrorist' for funding al-Qaida. Osama Bin Laden, the mastermind of 9/11 terror strike on US, too has been eluding US-led multi-national armed forces. The list also features Dalai Lama at 39th rank and Pope Benedict XVI at 11th place. The Forbes ranking includes total 67 persons from across the world. Among the top-ranked, Obama, Jintao and Putin are followed by US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke (4th) and internet giant Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page joint fifth. — PTI
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Top Lankan army general Fonseka quits
The Chief of Defence Staff of Sri Lanka, General Sarath Fonseka, resigned from his post on Thursday, heightening speculation that he was about to embark on a political career that would put him in on a collision course with President Mahinda Rajapaksa. General Fonseka, who is widely credited with the defeat of the LTTE, had fallen out of favour with the President soon after the war ended in May this year when he was removed from the post of Commander and appointed Chief of Defence Staff, a higher military rank but with lesser clout. In the past few weeks, there has been strong speculation that all main opposition parties have invited him to contest an upcoming presidential poll as the common opposition candidate but General Fonseka is yet to comment publicly about his political ambitions. However, his decision to resign from the post is most likely to be a prelude to his public announcement of his entry in active politics. Fonseka is widely popular, particularly among the majority Sinhalese community, for the role he played in destroying the LTTE. His leadership and strategy have been credited for the unprecedented success the Sri Lanka army achieved against the Tigers and resulted in them being completely wiped out.
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2 PPP workers receive burns during protest
Pakistan People’s Party staged a demonstration in Lahore against former President Gen Pervez Musharraf on Thursday and burnt his effigy for using indecent language against President Asif Ali Zardari.
Two activists of the party received burn injuries while setting Musharraf’s effigy on fire. They were rushed to hospital in a serious condition. PPP workers, including several women, raised slogans against Musharraf and called for his trial. Provincial minister and PPP leader Raja Aftab announced that the party would hold similar demonstrations at all district headquarters of Punjab on November 14. In an interview with New Yorker’s Samour Hersh, Musharraf described Zardari as “a criminal, fraud and third-rater”. Hersh later said Musharraf had used still harsher language against President Zardari but forbid him from publishing these. Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani speaking in the National Assembly played down the remarks and said nothing better could have been expected from former military dictators.
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