JIT head's statement recorded in Avenfield reference
- By Web Desk -
- Mar 27, 2018
ISLAMABAD: An accountability court in Islamabad on Tuesday recorded statement of Joint Investigation Team (JIT) head Wajid Zia in the Avenfield reference.
Former premier Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz and Captain (retd) Muhammad Safdar turned up before the court as Judge Muhammad Bashir resumed hearing the case.
The JIT head continued recording his testimony and was cross-examined by the Sharif family’s lawyers in the case.
He placed on the record three letters in connection with Mutual Legal Assistance for a probe into the offences allegedly committed by the Sharif family’s offshore companies and Qatari Prince Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al Thani’s letter to the Supreme Court
Amjad Pervaiz, representing Maryam and Safdar, objected to submission of the letters, asking why were they not submitted to the court before.
The court, however, allowed the star witness to furnish these letters and made them part of the proceedings.
In his statement, Zia told the court that the Sharif family submitted forged trust deeds with regard to the ownership of the flats to mislead the Supreme Court and JIT.
Last Thursday, the court rejected a request by the former premier and his daughter for exemption from personal appearance for seven days.
The former premier and his daughter filed the application requesting the accountability judge to grant them exemption from personal appearance for seven days starting from March 26 so that they could travel to London to see his wife Kulsoom Nawaz, who is battling cancer.
In their absence, the application said, Ali Aemal will represent Sharif while Maryam will be represented by Jahangir Jadoon.
Earlier, Judge Muhammad Bashir disposed of an application seeking to determine to what extent the report of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) can be exhibited as admissible.
Khawaja Haris requested the court to restrict witness Wajid Zia only to relevant portions of the report.
The judge allowed the witness to record his statement on his own and declared that admissibility of evidence would be decided at the time of the final verdict.