Pakistan politico Zardari gets his $60M

BERNE, Switzerland, Aug. 28 (UPI) -- Swiss authorities say they have released $60 million belonging to Pakistani president-to-be Asif Ali Zardari after being unable to prove criminal allegations.

Swiss Prosecutor General Daniel Zappelli said Zardari's assets were released to him after more than a decade since prosecutors were unable to obtain any evidence that Zardari had attempted to launder money through Swiss banks, The New York Times said Thursday.

"For money laundering to be proven, you have to show it was the product of a crime, but we don't have any evidence for a crime committed in Pakistan," Zappelli said.

Zardari, widower of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, slain while challenging former President Pervez Musharraf, had been accused of accepting bribes while serving as a government official and then attempting to make those funds untraceable by shifting them through banks in Switzerland.

An unidentified Swiss official told the Times that the funds totaled nearly $60 million and those funds were all frozen in 1997 when an inquiry began into Zardari's dealings.

The Times said the finalization of the money-laundering inquiry comes a week before Zardari is expected to be named the next president of Pakistan.