Swiss Magistrate nears completion of Bhutto money probe

A long-running investigation into charges of money laundering against former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and her husband is near completion, a Swiss magistrate said Thursday.

"I will transmit the case at the end of next week to the prosecutor," said Geneva investigating magistrate Vincent Fournier, on the same day Bhutto returned to Pakistan after eight years in self-exile.

The regional prosecutor for Geneva, Daniel Zappelli, will then have to decide whether to proceed with the case against Bhutto, who returned to Pakistan on Thursday after eight years in self-imposed exile.

Bhutto's lawyer, Alec Reymond, told AFP that a recent reconciliation agreement between Bhutto and President Pervez Musharraf was likely to have an impact on the Swiss case, if an amnesty for Bhutto is endorsed by Pakistan's supreme court.

"If it is validated the agreement specifies that Pakistan will drop legal proceedings in Pakistan and here," Reymond said. Pakistan is a plaintiff in the Swiss case.

Bhutto and her husband, businessman Asif Ali Zardari, were suspected of using Swiss bank accounts to launder about 12 million dollars (8.4 million euros) in alleged bribes paid by companies seeking customs inspection contracts in Pakistan in the 1990s.

She has repeatedly denied the charges. The couple were formally sentenced by decree on the charges in Geneva in 2003 after a first investigation.

However, the ruling was overturned when they lodged an appeal, prompting Fournier's more recent probe since 2004. The magistrate has questioned Bhutto several times in Geneva.

"It would have been easier to demonstrate money laundering if a definitive judgment had been rendered in Pakistan," Fournier told the Swiss news agency ATS.

Under Swiss law, money laundering can only occur if the assets involved are proven to be the product of a criminal act, such as corruption.

Reymond said he was likely to challenge any decision to forward the investigation, claiming it was incomplete.

If the Geneva prosecutor receives the case, he can decide to drop it, take it to court or issue a sentence by decree.

Geneva, Friday, AFP