Islamabad - Head of Joint Investigation Team on Panama Papers Wajid Zia on Thursday informed the NAB court during the hearing of Avelfield property reference that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, being an employee of Hassan Nawaz’s company Capital FZE, withdrew the last salary on August 11, 2013, but no documents contained Nawaz’s name.

During the cross-examination, defence counsel Khawaja Harris pointed out that the salary chart as provided by the JIT is not verified and it did not contain any name and, in fact, it was a screenshot of a computer database.

Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz did not appear in the accountability court owing to bad weather in Lahore and the court approved their exemption petition.

At the start of the proceeding, Accountability Court judge Muhammad Bashir asked the parties to shorten the arguments as he was not feeling well.

Defense counsel Harris while cross-examining Zia on the employment contract of Sharif questioned him, “do you know who blurred the salary figure of Nawaz Sharif and inked it as AED 10,000 from the original figure of AED 100,000”. On which, the JIT head replied that he did not know who had done that adding that the provided documents were verified.

Zia also informed the court that the JIT members who had visited Dubai to take out the document had not recorded the statement of the person who had verified the document.

Harris pointed out why did not you, being the JIT head investigate, on which documentation, the petition was filed. Zia said that he will not comment on the petition adding that Capital FZE has verified that former PM Sharif had withdrawn salary under the employment contract.

“Nawaz Sharif withdraw the last salary from FZE Capital on 11th August 2013 and this salary was fixed for the month of July 2013,” said Zia. He also said that Jabl-e-Ali Free Zone Authority got employment record of Nawaz Sharif from Capital FZE. Zia also informed the court that screen-shots were also available regarding certificates of salary payments and according to the screenshots of payments, there were salary payments paid out from February to July 2013.

During the proceeding, the NAB prosecutor said that information regarding privilege cannot be made public. All international laws and ‘Qanoon-e-Shahadat’ also guarantee to protect such sensitive information, said the NAB prosecutor.

On this Amjad Pervez, counsel for Maryam Nawaz said that once an issue has appeared in the court, all respective information has to be shared, so there is no excuse that the respective information should not be shared with the court when the person has appeared as a witness. Information cannot be hidden from the court.

AC INDICTS THREE CO-ACCUSED IN DAR CASE

INP adds: An accountability court on Thursday indicted three co-accused and aides of former finance minister Ishaq Dar in corruption references.

The indictment came after being delayed for five times in the previous hearings.

However, all the three co-accused National Bank president Saeed Ahmad, Hajveri Modaraba directors Naeem Mehmood and Mansoor Raza Rizvi pleaded not guilty against the charges.

The court has summoned the prosecution witnesses on April 11.

Conversing with the lawyers of the accused, Judge Muhammad Bashir remarked that he respected the Supreme Court but yet no order had been received by them. “Let’s indict the accused in the case. If any direction came from the court, the proceedings will be annulled. Let the case move a little forward,” he said.

Rizvi tendered an unconditional apology to the court over the heated argument between the judge and his lawyer Islamabad High Court Bar Association (IHCBA) President Javed Akbar Shah on previous hearing. He told that Shah was no longer representing him in the case.

Ishaq Dar, 67, was indicted in October last year in a graft case in which he is accused of making assets that were “disproportionate to his known sources of income”.

The case was filed against him by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in the light of the Supreme Court order of July 28 that disqualified Nawaz Sharif as prime minister in the Panama Papers scandal.

In its case against Dar, the NAB has alleged that the accused acquired assets and pecuniary interests/resources in his own name and/or in the name of his dependants of an approximate amount of Rs 831.678 million.

Dar is in London since October and has been seeking treatment of an undefined heart complication at a Harley Street hospital.