ISLAMABAD – Panamagate joint investigation team (JIT) hear Wajid Zia on Tuesday informed the accountability court that childer of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif filed forged documents during the probe in London properties’ case.
Zia is recording his statement before the court in Avenfield reference, one of the corruption case filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in the light of the Panmagate verdict.
Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his children – Maryam, Hassan and Hussain Nawaz – and son-in-law Captain (retd) Safdar have been made accused in the case.
At today’s hearing, former prime minister, his daughter and son-in-law appeared before the court, while Sharif’s son have been declared absconder by the court on not attending the hearings.
Wajid Zia during testimony said that Nawaz’s children submitted trust deeds written in Calbiri font to the JIT, which later sent the documents for examination to a UK-based firm, Radley Forensic Document Laboratory.
He added that the JIT concluded that the documents were bogus on the basis of a forensic report issued by the company.
He claimed that the accused had tried to alter the dates from 2004 to 2006. He added that the accused during the interrogation admitted that the flats were purchsed during 90s.
Exemption Pleas Rejected
On March 22, the accountability court rejected the pleas filed by Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz, seeking exemption from appearance in corruption cases. Both accused wanted to visit ailing Kulsoom Nawaz, who has been undergoing treatment for lymphoma since late last year.
https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/headline/verdict-reserved-on-nawaz-maryams-pleas-for-exemption-from-appearance/
Qatari Letter
At the last hearing, Zia presented a letter of Qatari Prince Muhammad Bin Jasim al Thani obtained from the Supreme Court in a sealed envelope before the court to match with one of the photocopies of the prince’s letter submitted on March 15 by him. But the letter turned out to be different than the one submitted.
After Maryam and Safdar’s counsel raised objection over the letter, the accountability court refused to accept the letter as an evidence in the case.
Zia also presented several documents, including draft of the agreement held between Al Taufiq Company and Hudabiya Paper Mills, land registry of London flats and Nescol Company.
The court made the land registry of the Nelson and Nescol related to the London flat a part of the judicial record with defence counsels’ objections.
During the hearing, the court observed that documents were not arranged properly and directed Zia to arrange the documents, saying the documents were not being smoothly produced and consuming a lot of time.
Court’s Ruling on JIT Report
The accountability court, last week, partially accepted a plea filed by the daughter of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s daughter, Maryam Nawaz, against submission of entire JIT report in the Avenfield case.
https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/headline/avenfield-case-nawaz-maryam-and-safdar-appear-before-nab-court/
It is to mention here that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had filed three interim corruption references regarding London properties, Al-Azizia Steel Mills, Flagship Investment and other offshore companies against former prime minister, his children – Hasan, Hussain and Maryam Nawaz – and son-in-law Captain (retd) Safdar in light of the Supreme Court’s July 28 verdict in the Panama Papers case.
The anti-graft watchdog recently filed supplementary references in all three cases – Avenfiled properties, Al-Azizia Steel Mills, Flagship Investment and other offshore companies.
