Swiss shelve money laundering probe into Bhutto, widower

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2008

GENEVA (AFP) — Swiss authorities on Monday shelved a long-running probe into alleged money laundering against slain former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto and her husband, Swiss news agency ATS reported.

Bhutto's widower Asif Ali Zardari is now the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) candidate to replace Pervez Musharraf as president, and the shelving of the probe by Geneva's prosecutor general means he will not face new charges.

Bhutto, who was assassinated in December, and 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.

The couple were formally sentenced by decree on the charges in Geneva in 2003...