ISLAMABAD: As cross-examination of prosecution witness Wajid Zia continued on Thursday, defence counsel Khawaja Haris said the JIT put such a difficult conditions before Qatari Prince Hamad bin Jassim that he in his third letter replied that he was not subjected to the Pakistani law and won’t visit Pakistan.
On the other hand, Wajid said Jassim, who endorsed the Sharif family’s stance, was ready to appear before the JIT but it declined his request to send him a questionnaire in advance. The Panama case implementation bench through a deputy registrar had conveyed to the JIT through telephone that the probe team could decide if questionnaire was to be sent or not in advance, he added.
Haris also tried to establish that the Qatari prince with his affidavits had attached supporting documents, while Mosaic Fonseca letter certified by the Financial Investigation Agency of British Virgin Island (FIA-BVI) did not attach any with the Mosaic Fonseca’s letters. The JIT never included Mosaic Fonseca officials into their investigation in complete contrast, he added.
Wajid admitted that the picture of Hussain Nawaz was leaked from the JIT premises and became viral on social media.
Answering questions posed by Haris, he said on May 13, 2017, the JIT wrote a letter to the prince, asking him to appear before the team to record his statement and also submit the relevant documentary material like details of bank accounts and transactions etc.
To this, Haris said, “What do you mean by ‘etc’?” Wajid replied that any record which supported the transactions or any kind of agreements. He, however, said the JIT in its letter to Jassim did not specifically mention any particular documents which he was supposed to produce. “We just asked Jassim to bring the document that may verify the contents of his affidavits earlier submitted before the Supreme Court regarding the financial settlement with the Sharif family in 2006 and the resultant acquisition of Avenfield properties,” he said.
Haris questioned Wajid whether Jassim confirmed the contents of his affidavits through a letter dated May 24, 2017. To which, Wajid’s reply was in affirmative.
“Did he (Jassim) also said that he would not come to Pakistan to depose before the JIT?” Haris asked, as Wajid responded with yes.
He said Jassim wrote to the JIT that he could not come to Pakistan but the team members might visit Doha for recording his statement. The Qatari prince also asked the probe team to send him in advance a questionnaire comprising questions that he might have to reply, he added.
Wajid said the JIT members had a split opinion on whether to send a questionnaire in advance. To solve this issue, the JIT wrote to the implementation bench but through a deputy registrar the three-member bench conveyed to them that it was a matter related to investigation and the JIT members should themselves decide about it, he said. “Then we unanimously decided that we would not send the questionnaire in advance but we did not mention our decision in the JIT report,” Wajid said.
Haris then asked Wajid, “Did you convey to Jassim that you would not send him a questionnaire in advance?” Wajid replied, “We didn’t.”
When the defence counsel inquired about his experience of investigation, the JIT head said he had a 29-year experience of police service, during which he conducted numerous investigations both local and international. For five years he served with the Yugoslavia War Crime Tribunal, for four months headed the investigation of Benazir Bhutto murder case and also investigated the high treason case against Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf.
