Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: While recording his statement in the Al-Azizia reference, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif Thursday distanced himself from Qatari Prince Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jaber Al-Thani’s letters which the Sahrif family had presented as evidence in the Supreme Court during the Panama case proceedings, a private TV channel reported.

“I have no relation with Qatari prince’s letters,” the former prime minister said while recording his statement for a second consecutive day before an accountability court in Islamabad.

The Sharif family had submitted letters from the Qatari royal family before the Supreme Court last year.

Accountability court judge Arshad Malik resumed hearing into the Al-Azizia corruption reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) last year on the Supreme Court’s orders. Nawaz has answered most of the 151 questions posed to him by the court in the reference.

“I was not part of any transaction in any capacity. My name has not been mentioned in any document,” Nawaz asserted while responding to a question. He also raised reservations over the statements of prosecution’s star witness and Panamagate joint investigation team head Wajid Zia. While answering the questions, Nawaz kept consulting his counsel Khawaja Haris.

“The records of our business was seized after martial law was imposed in 1999. We filed complaints in this regard but no action was taken,” the former prime minister said in response to another question. “Judge Sb, this happened with us not only in 1999 but has happened always. It is a painful story of our family,” he said. “In 1972, Pakistan’s biggest steel mill – Ittefaq Foundry – was nationalised. No one even asked whether we had money to eat,” he continued. “I was not even a politician back in 1972 … I entered into politics in 1980s,” he added.

“The JIT’s Volume X is merely an investigative report and not an acceptable evidence. I am not a witness to any document submitted by the JIT other than my tax records,” the former prime minister said. “My tax records are already with the JIT,” he said. “Mutual legal assistants (MLA) were presented as evidence against me. The MLA from Saudi Arabia did not respond while the response from the one in United Arab Emirates (UAE) was factually incorrect,” he added.

The accountability court has until November 17 (tomorrow) to wrap up the remaining two corruption references – Al-Azizia and Flagship Investments – against the Sharif family. The Supreme Court had granted ‘final extension’ to the accountability court last month after its deadline to conclude the trials against the Sharif family had ended on October 7.

Published in Daily Times, November 16^th 2018.