When he married into the Bhutto political dynasty in 1987, Zardari, then 31, was a little known scion of a landowning polo-playing family from southern Sindh province.

He was born on July 21, 1956 in the rural Sindh district of Nawabshah and schooled in the commercial capital Karachi at the Saint Patrick High School, the alma mater of President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.

He graduated from the Petaro Cadet College in 1972, an army-run institution known for its discipline and regimented life, and went on to study business and economics at London’s Pedinton School, graduating in 1976.

“It was that hardcore physical training (at cadet college) which helped Zardari brave eight long years in jail. That otherwise, would not have been possible for him,” childhood friend Abbas Rizvi told AFP.

“It is amazing that a person, who had lived in a princely style throughout his life, tasted the miseries of prison with ease and smile.”

Gradually he carved out an influential position for himself under his wife’s two tenures in power, under which a reputation for kickbacks flourished to the point that he won the nickname “Mr Ten Percent.”

When Bhutto’s first 1988-90 government was dismissed by then president Ghulam Ishaq Khan on corruption charges, Zardari was generally blamed by Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party for soiling the political pitch and bringing the party into disrepute.

Zardari was first arrested in 1990 when Bhutto’s political foe Nawaz Sharif of the rival Pakistan Muslim League was prime minister. He spent 28 months in jail facing a string of criminal and corruption cases.

When Bhutto was re-elected after Sharif’s ouster 1993, also on corruption charges, Zardari was back in the corridors of power, this time in the powerful portfolio of investment. His reputation escalated.

As minister and senator he was at the helm of affairs until Bhutto’s second government was dismissed a second time by then president Farooq Leghari in 1996.

Less than half an hour before the dismissal Zardari was arrested and remained in prison, until Monday, to face 10 graft charges, four murder charges and one drug smuggling charge.

He was also charged over two alleged attempts to commit suicide in prison.

“During all my political career, I have either been at the Prime Minister’s House or in prison. There is no third place for me,”  Zardari told AFP Monday night, hours after his release.

Zardari’s passion for thoroughbred horses was well known and got him into trouble. One of the charges against him was that he maintained a costly stable in the prime minister’s official residence in Islamabad at the state’s expense.

Entering the Bhuttos’ ancestral home Bilawal House in Karachi’s plush seaside suburb of Clifton Monday night, Zardari struck a conciliatory tone.

“I am happy that my critics and followers both congratulated me on my release,” he told reporters, referring to a telephone call from his wife’s traditional nemesis Nawaz Sharif, also in exile in Saudi Arabia.

“My release is a victory for all the democratic forces,” he declared.

“I can be a bridge for bringing political forces on one platform.”