MONEY from the sale of a multi-million-pound mansion in the Surrey countryside is at the centre of a legal row between the government of Pakistan and the husband of Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister.

At a hearing due to start in the Isle of Man next month, Asif Ali Zardari will try to prove that he is entitled to the proceeds of the sale. The Pakistani authorities allege that the house was bought with money gained corruptly when Bhutto was prime minister.

Rockwood House, the 10-bedroom mock-Tudor building at the centre of the dispute, is being sold by Giles and Vanessa Swarbreck, who bought the 390-acre estate for £4.35m four months ago. They have restored the property near Godalming which had been neglected while its ownership was disputed.

Alan Perry, a lawyer with Kendall Freeman in London and who is acting for the Pakistani government, said: “The government’s case is that Mrs Bhutto and/or her husband bought Rockwood with the proceeds of corruption.” Zardari’s legal team say this claim is unjustified as no court has found the house was bought with corrupt money.

The Swarbrecks are seeking to sell Rockwood House and some of its surrounding land and buildings for £5.7m. There is no suggestion that the Swarbrecks’ ownership of Rockwood is disputed.

This summer, after previously denying to The Sunday Times he owned the house, Zardari told the Isle of Man court from his Karachi cell he was the “beneficial” owner of three Manx companies that bought Rockwood in 1995.

In 1996 Bhutto’s government was dismissed amid allegations of corruption, misrule and nepotism. With her three children she fled into exile. Zardari, minister for investment in his wife’s government, whose nickname of “Mr Ten Per Cent” allegedly came from pocketing kickbacks on government contracts, was jailed.

The new government moved to repossess many of the couple’s assets, which it argued had been bought with illicitly gained money. Matters came to a head when the three Isle of Man companies went into liquidation in February 2002. Creditors included British builders owed money for renovations.

This summer the liquidators sold the estate to the Swarbrecks. The provisional agreement with the Pakistani government, which needed approval from a Manx court, was that the proceeds would go to the government after the creditors had been paid.

Within days came Zardari’s declaration. His lawyers told the judge he was willing to pay off the creditors and asked for more time to prove his claim. Farooq Naik, Zardari’s lawyer, said: “(He) is saying that if he is the beneficial owner he should receive the proceeds as there is no legal impediment to him doing so.”

Additional reporting: Nick Fielding

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