Swiss judge wraps up BB graft probe

GENEVA—A Swiss investigative judge said on Thursday that he had completed a long-running probe into alleged money laundering by former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and her husband.
Judge Vincent Fournier, who spoke as Bhutto returned to her homeland after eight years in self-exile, said he would hand over his confidential findings next week to Geneva chief prosecutor Daniel Zappelli for action. Zappelli has three options — to bring the case to trial, suspend it, or dismiss it. Fournier conceded that money-laundering allegations would be harder to prove under Swiss law after President Pervez Musharraf granted an amnesty to protect Bhutto from corruption charges at home.
“It is not impossible, but much more difficult,” he said. “The fact that Pakistan has withdrawn its own prosecution does not help the Swiss demonstration of money-laundering.” At least $13 million remains frozen in bank accounts in the Swiss city in connection with the criminal case, which relates to alleged kickbacks from Swiss cargo inspection companies.—Agencies