— Wajid Zia tells judge he submitted letter’s photocopy on Thursday, however new document turns out to be different
ISLAMABAD: Joint Investigation Team (JIT) head Wajid Zia on Friday tried to present the ‘original’ letter of Qatari Prince Muhammad Bin Jasim al Thani, stating that he had presented a photocopy before the accountability court a day before.
Interestingly, the letter that bore the Supreme Court seal, turned out to be different that the one submitted by the JIT chief a day earlier.
Maryam Nawaz’s lawyer, Amjad Pervez raised objection over the admissibility of another letter by the Qatari prince. The court did not allow the letter and asked Wajid Zia to submit an application before the court for the admissibility of the new evidence. Zia also presented the draft of the agreement held between Al Taufiq Company and Hudaibiya Paper Mills and land registry of London Flats and Nescol Company. The court made the land registry of the Nielson and Nescol related to the London Flat a part of the judicial record.
During the hearing, Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam and son-in-law Capt (r) Muhammad Safdar appeared in court. However, the court allowed Nawaz to leave on his counsel’s request.
At the last hearing, Wajid Zia had presented alThani’s letter defending the Sharif family as evidence in court. The defence counsel had not raised any objections to the admissibility of the Qatari letter as evidence.
The letter, written by Thani, owes up to Nawaz’s previous allegations and claims that such letters exist. In July 2017, the JIT declared the Sharif family’s prime and final defence – the letters from Qatari Prince Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber alThani – as “totally a myth rather than a reality”, adding that the ruling family had never invested 12 million dirhams in the Qatari royal family’s business.
Amid arguments on the topic, Zia continued to record his statement and included parts of the report as evidence he gathered himself and through the JIT’s official research. The court gave the defence an option of raising objections to the inclusion of excerpts from the report.
Maryam’s counsel Amjad Pervez and the prosecutor argued over the defence’s plea to not make the entire JIT report part of the court record.
The judge partially approved the plea and ordered that the JIT report’s analysis and the statements of witnesses it recorded will not be made part of court record.
Maryam’s counsel also objected to Zia’s submission of documents signed by NAB’s Irfan Mangi, who was a member of the JIT. He argued that Mangi can submit the documents if and when he appears in court as a witness.
Zia responded that he should be allowed to submit the documents his way, to which the judge inquired as to where the source material of the JIT report originated from.
‘JUDICIAL REFORMS TO BE PART OF MANIFESTO’:
While speaking to reporters inside the accountability court, Nawaz Sharif said that the PML-N will include judicial reforms in its upcoming election manifesto, as “the door of reforms should always remain open.”
The former prime minister also said that they did not have to take help from any outside source as they had enough material on their own. Nawaz also said that the PML-N leaders will continue to play their role to ensure transparent elections.
Referring to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and Pakistan People’s Party, Nawaz said that the parties are just “fooling people” and things have come to a point where only 100-200 people come to their rallies.
Questioning the recent election of the Balochistan independent Senator Sadiq Sanjrani as Senate chairman, the former prime minister asked, “Who is Sanjrani? He was named by a group of six senators and became the chairman. Everyone knows who is behind them,” claimed Nawaz.
State Minister for Information Marriyum Aurangzeb, while talking to reporters, said that there was no truth in the JIT report and maintained that Nawaz Sharif was disqualified over unorganised evidence and Iqama.
She further said that the arrangement of Wajid Zia’s record is not correct as when it was presented before the court, the judge had asked to rectify the arrangement. “Wajid Zia fell ill, and all of the witnesses against Nawaz Sharif end up like this. This is a great misfortune and something to think about,” lamented Aurangzeb.
