Nawaz submitted forged trust deeds in SC: Zia says

Tariq Ullah Wardag

ISLAMABAD: An accountability court in Islamabad on Tuesday recorded statement of JIT head Wajid Zia in the Avenfield reference.

Nawaz Sharif, Maryam and Captain (retd) Safdar turned up before the NAB court as Judge Bashir resumed hearing the case. The JIT head continued recording his testimony against Nawaz Sharif in the Avenfield Flats reference.

Zia told the court that the JIT had sent the trust deeds of offshore companies Nielsen and Nescoll submitted by Maryam during the Panama-gate case to a London-based firm, Radley Forensic Docum-ent Laboratory, for forensic examination.

According to a forensic report issued by the firm, the JIT concluded that the documents were fake, he added.

He claimed that the accused had tampered with the documents by changing the dates from 2004 to 2006. He added that the accused admitted that the apartments were bought during the 1990s, when Hussain was a student.

He placed on the record three letters in connection with Mutual Legal Assistance  for a probe into the offences allegedly committed by the Nawaz’s offshore companies and Qatari Prince Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al Thani’s letter to the Supreme Court

Of the tree, one dated June 19, 2017, was an authorisation letter on Mutual Legal Assistance from the attorney general of Pakistan to Zia.

The second, dated July 4, 2017, was by attorney general chamber Government of Virgin Islands to Zia in connection with the MLA request.

The final, dated July 17, 2017, was a reply by Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani to the JIT in connection with Panama Papers proceedings.

Highlighting the timing of the letters’ presentation, Amjad Pervaiz, counsel for counsel for Maryam and Safdar said the witness had remembered to present the documents too late. “These documents are dated,” he said. “Why were they not presented before?” When Judge Bashir also asked why the June 19 had not submitted earlier, Zia said it was issued after the top court allowed JIT to contact British Virgin Islands authorities. The court, however, made them part of the proceedings.The hearing was adjourned till Wednesday.