President Zardari allegedly received $4.3m in submarines sale

A French newspaper allegedly blamed that President Asif Ali Zardari is suspected of having received millions of dollars in kickbacks from the 1994 sale of three French submarines to the Pakistani Navy. The French daily claims that President Zardari allegedly received 4.3 million dollars in commission in the purchase of three Augusta 90 submarines. The report says the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) was informed in 2001 bout the alleged fraud. On the other hand, government spokesman declared the report as baseless and said that this is a planned conspiracy against the president. He said that this report is part of character assassination scheme started against the President by some elements. He said that there is a systematic way to purchase the submarines and Defence Ministry oversees the complete process. French President Sarkozy also declared these blames as baseless in July 2009.