Pak SC grants bail to Benazir's husband

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Supreme Court on Monday granted bail to Asif Zardari, the jailed husband of exiled former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, paving the way for his release after some eight years in jail, lawyers said.
The three-member bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice Justice Nazi Hussain Siddiqui, in a short judgment ordered Zardari''s release.
Amidst reports of reapproachment between Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto, Zardari, 49, was granted bail in connection with several cases of corruption against him.
Zardari was arrested on November 4, 1996 when the government of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) led by Benazir Bhutto was dismissed by then president Farooq Ahmed Leghari.
In September, a court overturned Zardari''s conviction for receiving kickbacks from the state-run Pakistan Steel Mills in 1995, during his wife''s tenure, for which he was sentenced for seven years.
He has, however, remained in custody awaiting trial on at least nine other corruption and criminal cases, all registered against him since 1996.
The last case against him involved the import of a bullet-proof BMW car.
The country''s National Accounts Bureau (NAB) had charged Zardari with fraudulent import of the car, saying Zardari allegedly kept the car in his use but it remained in the name of a fictitious person.
Zardari had denied the charges and described the case as "political victimisation."