ISLAMABAD – In a bid to weaken cases against President Asif Ali Zardari, top legal wizards associated with the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and holding top government positions have undertaken an exercise to draft ‘deviatory’ statements to be presented in courts of law on behalf of investigation officers and other prosecution witnesses.
A source privy to this development on Sunday told Pakistan Today that the exercise, which seemed to be an attempt to pave the way for of Zardari’s acquittal after he would leave the presidency, was being undertaken by the legal wizards in their unofficial capacity. The source said under the plan, the investigation officers and the prosecution witnesses would hold in their affidavits that they carried out previous investigation under pressure and threats of losing their jobs.
An affidavit drafted on behalf of FIA Islamabad Assistant Director Abdul Jalil Khan, and a copy of which is available with Pakistan Today, reads, “I was appointed as inspector in FIA in 1993. I was attached with Muhammad Yameen Khan who was working with Ehtesab Cell, Islamabad, and I assisted him in the investigation of ARY gold case.” Jalil stated that Khan later died, adding that he was familiar with his signatures.
“The inquiry report which has been shown to me does not seem to bear the signature,” the affidavit stated. It said, “After the death of Muhammad Yameen Khan, I was called and ordered to sign a supplementary inquiry report which I did. I was never authorised by the Ehtesab Cell chairman to carry out any investigation and submit inquiry report. As a matter of fact, I did not carry out any investigation personally nor recorded statements of any witnesses after meeting them.
I had merely copied out statements of two persons namely Ahmed Saddiq and Waqar Masood from their purported signed photo-state copies of the statements supplied to me and I filled the same under my signature with the supplementary reference. The acts mentioned in this para were carried out by me under threat of loss of my job.”
He stated in the affidavit that, “Statement of Hussain Lawai with or without bearing his purported signatures was neither supplied to me nor to Muhammad Yameen Khan. Furthermore, neither I nor Muhammad Yameen Khan recorded his statement nor copied the same to make it a statement under Section 161 Cr PC.”
The investigation officer in ARY gold reference further submitted, “I have neither seen nor filed before the court the original or the photocopy of the main reference bearing the signature of Chief Ehtesab Commissioner Justice Mujadad Mirza. As far as I recall, original main reference was never filed in the court.”
The source said more statements, to be presented on behalf of investigation officers, were being drafted by these legal brains. The ARY gold reference is pending before Accountability Court No II, in Rawalpindi.
