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In 1988 his wife won the seat of Prime Minister, and Zardari became a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan. He served as investment and environment minister in Bhutto's governments. It was during this time that Zardari's opponents began using the nickname, "Mr 10%", in reference to the charges of corruption against him.
Bhutto's government lost in the 1990 elections. Zardari soon came under investigation in Switzerland over alleged receipts of kickbacks from two Swiss-based companies. Zardari claimed the charges were political in nature, and in 2008 Switzerland closed the case and released Zardari's frozen assets.
In 1996, after a change of government, Zardari was again arrested. From 1997 to 2004, Zardari was kept in jail on various corruption charges and accusations of murder. Pakistani investigators accused Zardari and his wife Benazir for embezzling as much as US$1.5 billion from government accounts.[18] He was also accused of allegedly plotting the murder of Murtaza Bhutto, the brother of his wife Benazir Bhutto.
He was later cleared.[14] Another allegation involved an estate in Surrey which Pakistani press speculated was purchased by Zardari.[19][20] Zardari was similarly accused of purchasing 307 acres of land in Islamabad at "below the prevailing market price" in 1994 through an intermediary. In March 2009, a company owned by Zardari and his son Bilawal purchased the land for Rs 62 million.
The Capital Development Authority (CDA) valued adjacent land at Rs 850,000 per kanal (Rs 6.8 million per acre); if the 307 acres of land were valued on a similar rate, it would be valued around Rs 2 billion. Zardari's financial history was one case study in a 1999 US Senate report on various vulnerabilities in banking procedures.
Zardari was elected president of Pakistan, as Chief election commissioner Qazi Mohammad Farooq announced that "Asif Ali Zardari secured 281 votes out of the 426 valid votes polled in the parliament," In Sindh, Zardari had 62 of the 65 electoral votes while his two main opponents got zero votes; in North West Frontier Province Zardari got 56 votes against 5 by Siddiqui and one by Hussain; in Balochistan, 59 votes while Siddiqui and Hussain got 2 each. However, Zardari did not win the majority in the nation's biggest province, Punjab, where the PML-N's Siddiqui got a clear majority.
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