Pakistani court orders confiscation of Musharraf's bank accounts

A court in Pakistan on Tuesday ordered confiscation of all property and bank accounts of former President Pervez Musharraf for not appearing in a high treason case, lawyers said.

Pervez Musharraf, who quit in 2008, faces high treason charges for abrogating the country's constitution when he imposed emergency rule in 2007. He had dismissed the government of Nawaz Sharif in 1999 in a bloodless coup.

Musharraf had gone to UAE for treatment in March this year and is still living there.

The three-member special court, hearing the high treason case against Musharraf, instructed the State Bank of Pakistan to freeze all accounts of the former leader and inform the court. The court also asked the revenue departments across Pakistan to confiscate assets of the former President.

Mushararf's defence lawyer Faisal Chaudhry told the court the former President had gifted all his assets to his wife and daughter and the gifted assets could not be confiscated. He said he will challenge the verdict in the Supreme Court.

The court rejected request by the prosecution to continue the hearing in the absence of the accused.

Justice Mazhar Alam Mian who heads the court said the case will not be heard unless Musharraf is arrested and produced in the court.

Prosecution lawyer Akram Sheikh suggested the court that if the accused cannot come to the country and court could record Musharraf's statement through internet. He also said Musharraf has neither been admitted in hospital nor he has any health problem.

The court, however, said the presence of the accused is a must for hearing the case.

Musharraf is the first military ruler in Pakistan's history to be tried for high treason, a crime punishable by the death or life imprisonment, according to the legal experts.

His imposition of emergency rule and suspension of the Constitution in 2007 were viewed as treason. Prime Minister Sharif had announced the filing of high treason charges against Pervez Musharraf in his speech to the parliament in June 2013, weeks after he assumed the office of the Prime Minister for third time. Endit