Several cases in Europe keep alive concerns about the financial dealings of Asif Ali Zardari, known by critics in Pakistan as 'Mr. 10%.'
By Sebastian Rotella
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer, January 4, 2008
LONDON — During the stormy years Benazir Bhutto ruled Pakistan, her husband was a top power broker and a prime target of corruption allegations that toppled her.
The assassination of the former prime minister has pushed her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, back into the heart of the storm. Their political party this week named Zardari to run its day-to-day affairs while appointing the couple's 19-year-old son to the ceremonial role of chairman.
Even though Zardari has said he will not run for parliament in upcoming elections, attention has focused once again on the corruption cases that have swirled around him at home and abroad and made him a polarizing figure even within the Pakistan People's Party.
The political strife of the moment makes it especially difficult to assess the allegations against Zardari in Pakistan. But several cases in Europe offer insight into the longtime suspicions that have haunted him and, to some extent, his late wife. The cases raise questions about the sources of the family's vast wealth and the elaborate, secretive way in which the couple allegedly moved money around the world.
The accusations center on the dapper Zardari, 51, a former polo player whose critics nicknamed him "Mr. 10%" because of his alleged taste for bribes. After Bhutto's second government fell in 1996, authorities imprisoned Zardari on charges of graft. Pakistan's anti-corruption agency pursued investigations overseas, and authorities in several countries opened their own inquiries.
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