ISLAMABAD: Captain (retd) Muhammad Safdar stated before the Joint Investigation Team that even today he was unaware of the ownership of the Avenfield Apartments. He further said that he and his family were regularly visiting London since 1993, but they never stayed in the Avenfield flats nor did he ever know that Sharif family owned the flats.
In late 2007, he along with family including Mian Nawaz Sharif once stayed in Avenfield Apartments and learnt that the said apartments were in possession of Sharif Family. On later stages of his interview with JIT, he mentioned that Trust Deed between Hussain Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Safdar was signed by him too, as a witness relating to Avenfield apartments in 2006. JIT suspected the truthfulness of retired captain regarding the knowledge of ownership of the flats.
JIT found that though Captain Safdar narrated all the events related to trust deed signatures between his wife and Hussain Nawaz, yet he did not know the content of the deed. He further claimed that he did not even know that the trust deed was for the Avenfield apartments.
Captain Safdar claimed that it is a common practice in the Sharif family to sign documents without reading. He said the family members trust each other and they never ask each other for reasons and content.
Importantly, Tariq Shafi claimed the similar that he had been signing different documents regarding Gulf Steel Mills without even reading the content. When JIT enquired Mian Nawaz Sharif and Hussain Nawaz about signing the assets’ settlement document, they refused to even have seen the documents and had no knowledge whatsoever about the content of the documents. They gave the same reason of the common practice within the Sharif family of signing papers for each other without even checking the content and the documents.