Wajid Zia testifies against Sharifs in Al-Azizia case

ISLAMABAD: Ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz on Friday arrived at an accountability court in connection with the hearing of Al-Azizia/Hill Metal reference.

Judge Muhammad Bashir is presiding over the trial proceedings in Islamabad.

Star prosecution witness Wajid Zia, head of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT), resumed recording his statement against the Sharif family in the case.

At the previous hearing, the witness placed on record some documents related to the companies, which included the statements of Hussain, Hassan and Maryam Nawaz submitted before the Supreme Court.

Khawaja Haris, the counsel for the former premier, raised objection on making the documents part of the court record, saying since Maryam was not nominated in the reference and both the sons of his client were not present, their statements could not be made part of the record.

Zia also placed on record sale agreements of the Gulf Steel Mills of 1975 and 1980, and the partnership agreement between Tariq Shafi and Abdullah Kayed Ahli and record of bank accounts of Nawaz Sharif.

Zia told the accountability court about the directives given by the apex court to the JIT for carrying out probe into Sharif family’s assets. “Supreme Court questioned the JIT regarding the details of the establishment and the sale of Gulf Steel Mill, authenticity of the letter by Qatari Prince Hamad bin Jassim and information of gifts, worth billions, given to Hussain Nawaz by his father,” Zia added.

Wajid Zia also shed light on how the assets were shifted from Qatar to England and Saudi Arabia.

“We were tasked to investigate the ownership of Sharif family’s assets and submit a final report on the matter in 60 days. On July 10, 2017, JIT report was presented before the apex court,” Zia stated.