ISLAMABAD - Prosecutor witness and Joint Investigation Team head on Panama Papers Wajid Zia informed the Islamabad Accountability Court on Monday that both letters of the Qatari prince presented to the JIT were “piece of hearsay”.
Zia while recording his statement t in Al-Aziziya Steel Mills reference informed the court that according to the information from the UAE authorities through Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) letters, JIT came to the conclusion that Maryam Nawaz, Hassan Nawaz and Hussain Nawaz submitted forged documents to the JIT about their assets.
On this, Defense counsel Khawaja Harris objected and contended that judgments and verdicts of the apex court were there to state that the investigation report could not be relied upon as acknowledgeable testimony.
Zia also said that in miscellaneous petitions, Hassan and Hussain Nawaz assumed the stance that the late Mian Muhammad Sharif arranged an amount of AED 5.4 million for Hussain Nawaz from 2001 to 2003. He said this amount was arranged to establish a steel mill in Saudi Arabia and it was also claimed that this amount was arranged by the Qatari prince for Hussain Nawaz on a request of Mian Muhammad Sharif.
In 2005, Al-Aziziya Steel Mills was sold for an amount of 63 million Saudi Riyal, he said. Zia informed the court that there were no proper bank records to prove that AED 5.4 million were received from the Qatari prince. Due to the absence of banking transaction and bank records, the JIT came to the conclusion that a worksheet was made through joining the points of the money trail. Zia said that the JIT made endeavours to record the statement of the Qatari prince but resorted to delaying tactics to avert his appearance before the JIT.
He also informed the court that the worksheet revealed that Hassan Nawaz from 2001 to 2004 received four installments and according to the miscellaneous petitions, that payment was made to establish a company in the UK and that amount did not have any banking record. Hassan Nawaz in his statement before JIT had stated that he had never received any amount from the Qatari prince, Zia said adding that as per the worksheet of 2000, expenditures of $8 million were shown in the statement of the Al-Taufiq case but the Qatari prince did not give any documented evidence about this transaction.
He further said that as per the worksheet, London flats were bought in 2006 for settlement of $8 million. He said that Hussain Nawaz and the Qatari prince did not provide any documented evidence for their proposed final settlement. He said Hussain Nawaz also stated before the JIT that there was no agreed agreement signed between them for final the settlement.
Prosecutor witness Noreen Shahzadi also provided details of cheques of the Sharif family and they were made part of the record. Defense counsel Harris objected to the presentation of banking transactions record by Zia in the court.