The News Minute | November 14, 2014 | 9:22pm IST
Geneva, November 14, 2014 - A necklace, a bracelet,a pair of earrings and a ring belonging to former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto will stay in Switzerland, the Swiss Federal Court has ruled today.
The claim over the confiscated jewelry came from an offshore company, Swiss media has reported. Bhutto was assassinated in 2007 while on a campaign trail in Pakistan. Her husband Asif Ali Zardari who was called “Mr. 10%” for his penchant for kickbacks in government deals stood accused of getting several million dollars in kickbacks for giving a contract to a Swiss company during Bhutto’s second term in office (1993-1996).
The case, according to the Swiss web portal www.swissinfo.ch opened 16 years ago, involved the Geneva-based Société Générale de Surveillance (SGS), the world’s biggest verification, testing and certification services group.
The jewelry worth CHF 177,000 or $183,000 was gifted to Bhutto by Zardari and was paid for by an offshore company which has been trying to claim it. Zardari is the beneficial owner of the offshore company which failed to prove in Swiss courts that the jewelry was purchased in its own name.
Asif Ali Zardari served as President of Pakistan from 2008-2013