$ 13.8 million found in Benazir's Swiss accounts

The Swiss federal office of police affairs has announced that around 20 million Swiss francs ($ 13.8 million) have so far been found in the frozen Swiss bank accounts of former Pakistani prime minister and Pakistan People Party leader Benazir Bhutto and her family.

Seven Geneva banks have frozen accounts since an initial Pakistani government request on September 8, following a probe into allegations that Bhutto enriched herself while in office.

Pakistani officials said that Bhutto and her husband kept between $ 50 million and 80 million in Swiss banks.

Pakistan has lodged a formal request with Switzerland for legal assistance over several corruption allegations concerning Benazir, her husband Asif Ali Zardari and her mother Nusrat Bhutto.

Bhutto claims the allegations are false and fabricated.

She was dismissed as premier on charges of corruption and misrule in November 1996.

The accounts initially were frozen for a three-month period, and the restriction is to be lifted when legal proceedings end.

UNI