After the dismissal of Benazir Bhutto's first government on 6 August 1990 by President Ghulam Ishaq Khan on grounds of corruption, the government of Pakistan issued directives to its intelligence agencies to investigate the allegations. After the fourth national elections, Nawaz Sharif became the Prime Minister and intensified prosecution proceedings against Bhutto. Pakistani embassies through Western Europe—in France, Switzerland, Spain, Poland and Britain—were directed to investigate the matter. Bhutto and her husband faced a number of legal proceedings, including a charge of laundering money through Swiss banks. Though never convicted, her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, spent eight years in prison on similar corruption charges. After being released on bail in 2004, Zardari suggested that his time in prison involved torture.

A 1998 New York Times investigative reportBhutto Clan Leaves Trail of Corruption in Pakistan, by John F. Burns, The New York Times, 9 January 1998 claims that Pakistani investigators have documents that uncover a network of bank accounts, all linked to the family's lawyer in Switzerland, with Asif Zardari as the principal shareholder. According to the article, documents released by the French authorities indicated that Zardari offered exclusive rights to Dassault, a French aircraft manufacturer, to replace Pakistan's air force's fighter jets in exchange for a 5% commission to be paid to a Swiss corporation controlled by Zardari. The article also said a Dubai company received an exclusive licence to import gold into Pakistan for which Asif Zardari received payments of more than $10 million into his Dubai-based Citibank accounts. The owner of the company denied that he had made payments to Zardari and claims the documents were forged.

Bhutto maintained that the charges levelled against her and her husband were purely political.Bhutto's Husband Appeals 11 May 1999World News Briefs; Bhutto's Jailed Husband Sworn In as Senator 30 December 1997 In 2006, after 15 long years an Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) report was brought forward when then-President Pervez Musharraf was trying to gain support from Bhutto. According to this report, Benazir Bhutto was ousted from power in 1990 as a result of a witch hunt approved by then-president Ghulam Ishaq Khan. The AGP report says Khan illegally paid legal advisers 28 million rupees to file 19 corruption cases against Bhutto and her husband in 1990–92.

Yet the assets held by Bhutto and her husband continue to be scrutinised and speculated about. The prosecutors have alleged that their Swiss bank accounts contain £740 million.Corruption amnesty may release millions for Bhutto, The Sunday Times, 14 October 2007 Zardari also bought a neo-Tudor mansion and estate worth over £4 million in Surrey, England, UK.Asif Zardari lays claim to 4-mn-pound UK estate, The Times of India, 22 August 2004£4 m Surrey mansion in Bhutto 'corruption' row, The Sunday Times, 21 November 2004 The Pakistani investigations have tied other overseas properties to Zardari's family. These include a $2.5 million manor in Normandy owned by Zardari's parents, who had modest assets at the time of his marriage. Bhutto denied holding substantive overseas assets.

Switzerland

On 23 July 1998, the Swiss Government handed over documents to the government of Pakistan which relate to corruption allegations against Benazir Bhutto and her husband.South Asia Bhutto 'corruption' documents reach Pakistan, Thursday, 23 July 1998 The documents included a formal charge of money laundering by Swiss authorities against Zardari. The Pakistani government had been conducting a wide-ranging inquiry to account for more than $13.7 million frozen by Swiss authorities in 1997 that was allegedly stashed in banks by Bhutto and her husband. The Pakistani government recently filed criminal charges against Bhutto in an effort to track down an estimated $1.5 billion she and her husband are alleged to have received in a variety of criminal enterprises.Swiss Want Bhutto Indicted in Pakistan for Money Laundering, 20 August 1998, Thursday, by Elizabeth Olson The documents suggest that the money Zardari was alleged to have laundered was accessible to Benazir Bhutto and had been used to buy a diamond necklace for over $175,000. The PPP has responded by flatly denying the charges, suggesting that Swiss authorities have been misled by false evidence provided by the Government of Pakistan.

On 6 August 2003, Swiss magistrates found Bhutto and her husband guilty of money laundering.Asia: Pakistan: Bhutto Sentenced In Switzerland 6 August 2003 They were given six-month suspended jail terms, fined $50,000 each and were ordered to pay $11 million to the Pakistani government. The six-year trial concluded that Bhutto and Zardari deposited in Swiss accounts $10 million given to them by a Swiss company in exchange for a contract in Pakistan. The couple said they would appeal. The Pakistani investigators say Zardari opened a Citibank account in Geneva in 1995 through which they say he passed some $40 million of the $100 million he received in payoffs from foreign companies doing business in Pakistan.THE BHUTTO MILLIONS; A Background Check Far From Ordinary, 9 January 1998, Friday, By JOHN F. BURNS (NYT) In October 2007, Daniel Zappelli, chief prosecutor of the canton of Geneva, said he received the conclusions of a money laundering investigation against former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on 29 October, but it was unclear whether there would be any further legal action against her in Switzerland.Swiss prosecutor gets case against Bhutto, 29 October 2007, Monday, by The Associated Press

Poland The Polish Government has given Pakistan 500 pages of documentation relating to corruption allegations against Benazir Bhutto and her husband. These charges are in regard to the purchase of 8,000 tractors in a 1997 deal.£4 m Surrey mansion in Bhutto 'corruption' row 21 November 2004Poland gives Pak papers on $ 2-mn Bhutto bribe 6 May 1999 According to Pakistani officials, the Polish papers contain details of illegal commissions paid by the tractor company in return for agreeing to their contract.World: South Asia Poland linked to Bhutto corruption charge, Friday, 7 May 1999 It was alleged that the arrangement "skimmed" Rs 103 mn rupees ($2 million) in kickbacks. "The documentary evidence received from Poland confirms the scheme of kickbacks laid out by Asif Zardari and Benazir Bhutto in the name of (the) launching of Awami tractor scheme", APP said. Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari allegedly received a 7.15% commission on the purchase through their front men, Jens Schlegelmilch and Didier Plantin of Dargal S.A., who received about $1.969 million for supplying 5,900 Ursus tractors.NAB says Swiss order names Benazir: Ursus tractor case 22 July 2004

France Defence deals with Dassault and DCNS

Potentially the most lucrative deal alleged in the documents involved the effort by Dassault Aviation, a French military contractor. French authorities indicated in 1998 that Bhutto's husband, Zardari, offered exclusive rights to Dassault to replace the air force's fighter jets in exchange for a five percent commission to be paid to a corporation in Switzerland controlled by Zardari.

At the time, French corruption laws forbade bribery of French officials but permitted payoffs to foreign officials, and even made the payoffs tax-deductible in France. However, France changed this law in 2000.

Pakistan Islamabad forest land case During the tenure of Benazir Bhutto in 1990, the government of Pakistan approved a deal for the construction of a luxury hotel and golf course on a 287-acre forested area in Islamabad. The project became the center of controversy, with allegations of corruption and nepotism leveled against the government. These allegations were cited by President Ghulam Ishaq Khan as justification for the dismissal of Bhutto's government.

The land, estimated to be worth between $15 million and $30 million, was allocated to a company for a mere $930,000. The company's address was traced to a residential property in London. The deal faced political scrutiny from the opposition, with a lawsuit filed by opposition leaders alleging the involvement of Bhutto's husband, Asif Ali Zardari, and her father-in-law, Hakim Ali Zardari. The legal action halted the finalization of the deal. In response, Zardari filed a defamation lawsuit, supported by a statement from the London firm denying any involvement of the Zardari family.

Cotecna corruption case In 1997, Saifur Rehman, then-chairman of the National Accountability Bureau, filed a case against A.R. Siddiqui, a former chairman of the Federal Board of Revenue, and several others, including Benazir Bhutto, her husband Asif Ali Zardari, and her mother Nusrat Bhutto, for allegedly awarding a corrupt contract to the Swiss company Cotecna. The prosecution presented 14 witnesses but failed to convince the judge of the case's merit. Siddiqui was accused of awarding the contract to Cotecna, which specializes in cargo inspection, at the behest of Bhutto during her second term as prime minister, violating government rules on contracts and procurement.

The case was moved to a court in Rawalpindi in 2001, and seven Cotecna directors, including its chairman, were declared proclaimed offenders for not responding to court summons. Under Swiss law in the 1990s, bribing foreign officials to obtain contracts was legal and tax-deductible. The case was temporarily closed after Bhutto's assassination in 2007, with Siddiqui being the sole accused on trial.

In 2011, Judge Jahandad Khan Banth dismissed the charges against Siddiqui but stated that Zardari would face charges after his presidential immunity expired. Nusrat Bhutto was granted temporary immunity due to poor health. The case revolved around the alleged 6% bribe on the expected revenue stream from the $131 million contract awarded to Cotecna.

SGS S.A. corruption case On April 16, 1999, former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, were convicted by the Lahore High Court for accepting kickbacks from Societe Generale de Surveillance, a Swiss inspection company, during Bhutto's second term. The court sentenced both to five years in prison, barred Bhutto from holding political office, and fined the couple $8.6 million. The conviction was the result of an investigation by Pakistan's Accountability Bureau, an agency established under Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Accountability Act of 1997.

The legal case centered around allegations that Societe Generale de Surveillance secured a contract with the Pakistani government by agreeing to pay Zardari a 6% commission, which was then deposited into a Swiss account owned by Zardari's offshore company, Bomer Finance. Prosecutors claimed that the funds were used to purchase luxury items, including a $188,000 diamond necklace.

Bhutto, who was in London at the time of the verdict, denied the charges and accused Sharif of politically motivated attempts to undermine her.

Helicopter scandal