ISLAMABAD, June 26: The NRO saga refuses to end for President Asif Ali Zardari. The government dropped a bombshell on Wednesday when it informed the Supreme Court that though the previous PPP government had written a letter to the Swiss authorities in compliance with the court order, it also sent a second secret communication to a law firm requesting for an official confirmation about the Swiss authorities’ inability to revive $60 million graft cases against the president.

The secret letter was written to Dr Nicholas Jeanding of law firm Fontanetassocies Geneva by former law secretary retired Justice Yasmin Abbasey on Nov 22 last year, Attorney General Muneer A. Malik revealed before a three-judge bench which had taken up the NRO implementation case.

Dr Jeanding has been asked to explain to the attorney general of Geneva about the position of the Pakistan government that the order of closing the cases by the former attorney general on Aug 25, 2008, had attained finality and could not be reopened under the Swiss law.

The apex court was further surprised when Mr Malik informed it that the secret communication was missing from the official record of the law ministry.

A visibly amazed Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry described the development as a violation of its Nov 14, 2012, orders and said if the authorities kept everybody in the dark, including the attorney general’s office, then the objective seemed ulterior.

“The second letter was sent to undo the effect of the first letter written to the Swiss authorities on Nov 5 last year in compliance of the Supreme Court orders,” observed Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry, a member of the bench.

In fact speculations about the government’s willingness to write the letter had been doing the rounds after a column appeared in an English daily in August last year mentioning former law minister Farooq Naek’s quiet sojourn to Switzerland to meet relevant people and explore the language of the letter to be written in a way that the graft cases could not be revived.

The letter was finally sent to the Swiss authorities in November after the apex court approved its text.

Mr Malik said he had been instructed to bring the facts to the notice of the apex court, adding that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had also ordered an inquiry into the missing files by a committee comprising Establishment Secretary Sami Saeed and the Director General of Intelligence Bureau, Aftab Sultan.

The court observed that it would not comment on the development because it was only concerned with the implementation of its orders. It decided to postpone the hearing for two weeks allowing the committee to complete its investigation. The court will take a decision after going through the inquiry report.

The attorney general also informed the court that the government intended to move an appeal against the Feb 4 decision of the attorney general of Geneva not to review the closure of cases order of Aug 25, 2008.

Since the Feb 4 decision had also mentioned the possibility of filing an appeal in 10 days, Mr Malik said the government would request the Swiss authorities that the period should start when the actual information about the decision reached Pakistan, probably on June 18.

The secret letterThe secret letter came to light when Pakistan’s Ambassador in Berne (Switzerland) Mohammad Saleem sent a fax message on June 18 to the law secretary forwarding a letter of June 13 along with enclosures received from Dr Nicolas Jeanding relating to the SGS/Cotecna money laundering case.

The ambassador was requested to send fax copies of all correspondences because the relevant files directly related to the subject were not traceable in the law ministry.

The second letter addressed to Dr Jeanding through the ambassador by the former law secretary stated that President Zardari enjoyed complete and absolute protection and immunity under Article 248(2) of the constitution as well as the international law, which was neither being waived nor lifted.

Dr Jeanding was also instructed to explain to the AG Geneva about the position of Pakistan that the requests for mutual legal assistance made in 1997 by then chairman of Ehtesab Bureau Saifur Rehman and attorney general late Chaudhry Mohammad Farooq were illegal and had no legal effect and hereby withdrawn by the Pakistan government and might be treated as never written.

Secondly, the order for closing the case by former AG Geneva Daniel Zappelli on Aug 25, 2008, had attained finality and under the Swiss law could not be reopened. Since no criminal proceedings had been pending in Switzerland, there were legal constraints and bar to revive the status of Pakistan as a civil party in the matter.

The letter stated that the mutual assistance had never been lawfully sought and in any event necessary documents and evidence had been transmitted by the Swiss authorities to Pakistan, and the legal assistance requested in 1997 had been completely executed.

It also mentioned that accountability courts in Pakistan had acquitted the main accused, A.R. Siddiqui, and accepted that President Zardari enjoyed complete and absolute immunity. Even otherwise President Zardari had not done any wrong or committed any act of corruption and corrupt practices.

Since no crime had been committed in Pakistan, the alleged offence of money laundering under the Swiss law did not seem to be applicable or attracted, the letter said. It requested official confirmation about the inability of the Swiss authorities to revive the government of Pakistan’s status as civil party, mutual assistance and alleged claims, thus bringing to an end the matters/issues which had arisen and initiated in 1997.

The first letter

The first letter written to the Swiss authorities in compliance with the apex court’s order was:Islamabad, Nov 5, 2012Attorney General Geneva,SwitzerlandRe: PP/11105/1997 and CP 289/97Dear Sir,

This is with reference to the letter dated 22nd May 2008 addressed by Malik Mohammad Qayyum, the then Attorney General of Pakistan, to Mr Daniel Zappelli, Attorney General, Geneva, Switzerland.

In view of the directions given by the Supreme Court of Pakistan in Paragraph 178 (copy attached as Annex-I) of its judgment dated 16th December 2009 in the case of Dr Mobashir Hasan, reported as PLD 2010 SC 265, the aforesaid letter is hereby withdrawn and may be treated as never written and therefore revival of requests, status and claims, is sought.

This is without prejudice to the legal rights and defences of the Presidents/Heads of State which may be available under the law, constitution and international law.

Yours sincerelyJustice (R) Yasmin Abbasey,Secretary