ISLAMABAD: The accountability court here on Thursday partially approved Maryam Nawaz’s plea opposing the inclusion of Panamagate Joint Investigation Team (JIT) probe report as evidence in Avenfield property reference.
Accountability Judge Muhammad Bashir conducted trial in the reference pertaining to Sharif family’s London-based Avenfield properties filed against the former premier, his daughter Maryam and son-in-law Capt (retd) Muhammad Safdar.
Sharif along with his sons-Hussain and Hassan – has been named in three references filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in compliance with the Supreme Court’s landmark July 28 verdict last year, while his daughter Maryam and son-in-law Capt. Safdar have been nominated in the Avenfield reference.
During the court proceedings today, Wajid Zia, who was also the head of Panamagate Joint Investigation Team (JIT), appeared before the court and started recording his statement.
As he began documenting his statement, Sharif’s counsel Ayesha Hamid raised objection on submission of documents bearing signatures of Irfan Mangi, a NAB official.
The counsel contended that the official, as NAB witness, was not present at the courtroom, hence Zia couldn’t submit those documents.
The hearing, however, adjourned till tomorrow (Friday).
As the hearing began earlier today, the NAB prosecution informed the accountability judge that Wajid Zia, who was also the head of Panamagate Joint Investigation Team (JIT), was on his way to the court.
He then requested the judge to adjourn the hearing till 10:00 am.
Meanwhile, Maryam Nawaz’s lawyer Amjad Pervez requested the judge to exempt his clients from personal appearance. He also filed a plea opposing the inclusion of Panamagate JIT probe report as evidence in Avenfield property reference filed against former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family members.
The defence lawyer argued against the inclusion of the entire JIT report as evidence and asserted that only volume 3, 4 and 5 of the JIT report are relevant to the case.
He contended that the investigator, Wajid Zia, couldn’t present the JIT report as evidence before the court since he had been supervising the entire probe against the former premier.
“This will be a breach of law, besides the Supreme Court has granted this right to the defendant side to challenge the veracity of the report,” the defence lawyer argued.
He maintained that the court should take a decision over the relevance of JIT report volumes with regard to the three references filed against Nawaz Sharif and his family members.
NAB deputy prosecutor Sardar Muzaffar opposed the objections raised by the defence lawyer.
The prosecutor said the report compiled by the Panamagate JIT comprised of public documents. “How three volumes of the report [according to defence lawyer] could be relevant and not others,” he questioned.
He argued that the JIT report is key evidence against Sharifs, besides the formation of JIT and its compiled report were never challenged at any platform earlier.
After hearing the arguments of defence lawyer, the judge reserved a decision on his plea and adjourned the proceedings till 10:00 am.
Later, the court resumed the hearing following the recess and partially approved the plea seeking non-inclusion of Panamagate JIT report as evidence in the case.
Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Additional Director Wajid Zia is presently documenting his statement in the case.
Last Hearing
At last hearing on March 8, the court rejected a plea filed by the NAB for inclusion of Panamagate Joint Investigation Team (JIT) probe report as part of the case record.
Accountability Judge Muhammad Bashir conducted trial in the reference filed against former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Capt (retd) Muhammad Safdar.
At the outset of court proceedings then, the defence lawyer requested the court to exempt his clients from personal appearance as the former premier is unwell.
Judge Muhammad Bashir granted permission to Sharif and his daughter Maryam to leave after marking their attendance. However, the judge directed Maryam’s spouse to remain present at the courtroom.
The hearing was then adjourned till 10:00 am owing to absence of NAB’s key witness Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Additional Director Wajid Zia, who was also the head of Panamagate JIT.
Following the recess, the court resumed hearing of the case again after the witness appeared before the court.
Zia informed the judge that he was tasked to conduct investigation into authenticity of a letter provided by the Qatari Prince, Sharif’s offshore companies named Gulf Steel and Hill Metals Company.
He said the investigation mainly surrounded the question as how the assets of former premier Nawaz Sharif and his dependants were increased manifold.
Maryam’s lawyer Amjad Pervez objected to the statement and argued that the witness was referring to an order which was not part of the record, besides his clients were not provided the copies of the ruling.
The NAB prosecutor then pleaded with the judge to include the JIT report into the case record.
The defence lawyer opposed the plea and maintained that a summary couldn’t be made a part of ongoing proceedings as evidence.
“It’s a breach of law,” he asserted.
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