ISLAMABAD: The accountability court on Friday resumed proceedings of key witness and head of former joint investigation team (JIT) Wajid Zia’s statement recording in Avenfield properties corruption case against Nawaz Sharif.
Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif appeared in court along with Maryam Nawaz and Captain (r) Safdar and stayed till the end of the hearing.
During the proceedings, Zia presented the original Qatari Letter to the court. The registrar of the court confirmed the authenticity and originality of the letter through its envelope.
However, the court in response to the letter’s addition stated that this was not the copy of the letter that was submitted before the court prior to the proceedings.
Zia stated that the original letter was in the envelope, so it was perceived that this was the original copy of the letter submitted yesterday.
Maryam’s counsel Amjad Pervaiz opposed the witness’s statement saying that Zia is not clear about the letter and its authenticity. Countering the argument, Zia stated that the letter submitted yesterday was received as fax from the foreign office whereas this letter has been taken from the Supreme Court.
Nawaz’s counsel Khawaja Harris stated that it should be made a point in the record that mistakes often occur unintentionally, while also questioning the legality of the evidence submitted to the court.
The court summoned the concerned lawyer to give explanation on the matter of Qatari letter’s copy.
The hearing of the Avenfield case was adjourned till March 20 to resume statement recording of Wajid Zia.
The corruption cases against the Sharif family were initiated after the Panama Papers case, with NAB filing supplementary references in corruption cases against Nawaz Sharif.
The cases commenced in September last year under the supervision of Justice Mohammad Bashir.