KARACHI(National Times)- An anti-corruption court on Friday acquitted Senate Chairman Yousuf Raza Gilani in all cases pertaining to a multibillion-rupee Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) scandal. The hearing was held at the Federal Anti-Corruption Court in Karachi, where Gilani, who served as the country’s prime minister between 2008 and 2012, appeared in person. Gilani, along with former TDAP chairman Tariq Iqbal Puri, former director general Abdul Karim Daudpota and others, had been booked in over two dozen cases for alleged involvement in approval and disbursement of freight subsidies worth billions of rupees to various firms through fake claims in violation of the prescribed procedure for the scheme. In 2018, formal charges were framed against Gilani, Daudpota, Farooq Awan Puri, Mohammad Zubair, and approximately 20 others. However, after hearing arguments from both sides, the special federal anti-corruption court acquitted Gilani in the last 14 pending TDAP cases on Friday. The former prime minister had already been acquitted in 12 of those cases previously. Speaking to reporters outside the courtroom, former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gillani termed the cases against him as “false and politically motivated.” “I thank God and the court for granting me justice. These cases were based on baseless allegations,” he said and thanked his lawyer Farooq H. Naek, for presenting the case brilliantly. To a question, the Senate chairman said that those who had once initiated cases against him are now his allies. “I can’t abandon them, but there needs to be reform. If a case is not decided within a reasonable time, it should be closed,” he added. Senior lawyer and former law minister Farooq H Naek, who represented Gilani in cases, told reporters that 26 cases had been filed against the former premier in 2013 and 2014, all involving the same allegation — that he had accepted Rs500,0000 in subsidies related to the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan. “Gilani was already on bail in 10 of these cases, yet the FIA still declared him an absconder. Today, the court has cleared him of all charges… these were politically driven cases, and the judge has delivered justice for which we are grateful,” he added.