Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: While recording his statement for the third consecutive day, a National Accountability Bureau (NAB) witness presented before the accountability court on Wednesday details of foreign bank accounts and transactions made by ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his sons Hassan Nawaz and Hussain Nawaz.

Judge Muhammad Bashir continued recording the statement of NAB witness Malik Tayyab Ahmad, an employee of Standard Chartered Bank, in Al-Azizia Steel Mills reference.

The witness stated that Nawaz Sharif withdrew $2,200 on February 7, 2017 and transferred $600,000 to his Pakistani currency account from March to May 2017.

He stated that Hussain Nawaz transferred £25,000 to the account of his father in December 2010, whereas Sharif transferred £25,000 to his Pakistani currency account in Sep 2015.

The judge laughed when the witness stated that the former premier transferred £10 to his Pakistani currency account twice in 2016 and withdrew the amount on April 30, 2010. The judge, in a lighter vein, said the amount would have been given to Zaafir Khan, a pleader of Nawaz Sharif.

Zaafir Khan raised objections over the documents presented in the court by the prosecution witness. The judge addressed the pleader asking whether he had an objection over the cheques of £10 as well.

The witness stated that Sharif transferred an amount of …900,000 to his Pakistani currency account in September 2010 through five cheques. He said Sharif transferred …210,000 and …190,000 to his Pakistani currency account in April 2012 and November 2015 respectively.

During the hearing, Ayesha Hamid, an assistant to Nawaz’s counsel Khawaja Haris, raised objections over NAB’s request to court seeking to include the documents provided by Noreen Shahzad, an employee of the Standard Chartered Bank who replaced Malik Tayyab Ahmad as bank’s branch manager.

Ayesha Hamid contended that since Noreen Shahzad was not included in the list of witnesses, thus the documents provided by her could not be made part of the evidence record. She also contended that Noreen did not have authority letter of her bank, thus she could not submit any document, being an unauthorised person. She stated that the defence team was also not told earlier about the documents submitted by Noreen, which was against the legal procedure.

The counsel requested the court to first decide whether Noreen and the documents submitted by her could be included in the witness box and then proceed further. The court accepted her request and adjourned the hearing till today (Thursday). Now the court will first decide about the inclusion of Noreen in the witness box and then further record the evidence of Malik Tayyab.

Published in Daily Times, December 7^th 2017.