ISLAMABAD: An escape from a bad spell seven years ago gave Asif Ali Zardari access to the $60 million allegedly stashed in a Swiss bank, according to Pir Mohammad Ejaz, a spiritual mentor of the former president.

The pir, who remained by the side of Mr Zardari during his political ups and downs and even in his fiveyear stay in the presidency, told Dawn on Thursday outside an accountability court where Mr Zardari came on Thursday to face five references, including a moneylaundering case.

`Zardari sahib got the moneybecause of my meditation for which I spent a year in Madina in 2006,` he claimed.

Pir Ejaz removed the curtain from a mystery about when Mr Zardari got $60m and deposited it in a Swiss bank.

The former president could not draw the money for a long time because cases against him were pending in a Swiss court.

For the same money, Mr Zard ari is facing a money-laundering case filed by the National Accountability Bureau. The NAB believes that it was the money Mr Zardari and other accused had acquired as commission for SGS Cotecna pre-shipment inspection.

The money was reportedly paid toAsif Zardari and other accused in Switzerland almost two decades ago.

`My meditation freed Mr Zardari from the bad spell he was under and in 2006 I called him from Madina to tell him that his case has been thrown into a blind well and he will soon get his money back,` he said.

During Thursday`s hearing, Pir Ejaz was seen standing outside the courtroom reciting verses from the Holy Quran.

`I have been protecting Mr Zardari from hardships since 2001, but when cases were being heard in a Swiss court I went to Madina for special meditation to save him.

Pir Ejaz claimed that no evil can harm Mr Zardari now.