Pakistan's Supreme Court Monday gave Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf another three weeks to reopen graft cases concerning President Asif Ali Zardari, after the premier appeared in person and requested a delay, DPA reported.
The cases against Zardari date to the 1990s when his late wife Benazir Bhutto was prime minister. The pair allegedly deposited million of dollars taken as bribes in Swiss banks.
A five-member bench headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa set September 18 as deadline for Ashraf to ask the Swiss to re-launch the cases after he sought four to six weeks to find a way to resolve the matter.
The Supreme Court had ordered Ashraf on August 27 to appear in person to explain why he failed to reopen the corruption cases.
Ashraf became prime minister when his predecessor, Yousuf Raza Gilani, was disqualified from office in June for refusing to ask the Swiss to reopen the investigations.