Three references: Sharif family to present over a dozen witnesses

ISLAMABAD: Ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif and the members of his family will present over a dozen witnesses in an accountability court of Islamabad to rebut the story of the prosecution – the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) – in the three references filed on the Supreme Court direction in the Panama case judgment.

“We are preparing the list of our witnesses that we will hand over to the court as the prosecution wraps up its version,” a knowledgeable leader close to the defence told The News. He said it was unclear how long the depositions by these witnesses will take. However, he said it would depend on the pace of proceedings. “Our record is evident that we have not created any obstacle in the swift disposal of the references.”

On March 8, Wajid Zia, head of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT), now defunct, will give his testimony before the accountability court and face expectedly intense cross-examination by the Sharif family’s lawyer, Khawaja Haris.

The leader said that given the exceptional professional dexterity of the defence lawyer, Wajid Zia is going to have a tough time and will be confronted with questions the answers to which he might not have prepared.

Already, he said, Khawaja Haris has demolished the NAB’s star witness Robert Radley, the British forensic expert, who instead of benefiting the prosecution damaged its case. It wasan eight-hour long cross-examination at a stretch, which was unheard of in the recent judicial history of Pakistan.

The defence was more than satisfied over Radley’s “admissions” - the Calibri font existed since April 2005 in the beta version of Windows Vista, was downloaded by him as well despite being not a computer expert and “geek” and was being used by thousands of people.

The NAB had presented Radley as its main witness to prove that Calibri font used in the 2007 trust deed produced by Maryam Nawaz Sharif before the Supreme Court about the London properties was not available to ordinary users and thus the document was fabricated. The leader said that of the defence witnesses, some deponents would be very important because they will dilate on the justification of the assets of the Sharif family which the NAB has disputed.

He said that the prosecution has not unfolded or presented to the court even an iota of evidence to establish anything fishy against the accused. Its sole reliance was on the findings of the JIT, which have abundant flaws. For example, the biggest proof it collected against the deposed prime minister to claim that he owns the London apartments was that he has been sleeping in the same room that had been used by his father, Muhammad Sharif. The NAB had got nothing tangible through the Mutual Legal Assistance requests sent to different countries.

The source said that it was satisfying to note that no NAB witness claimed that Nawaz Sharif committed corruption of a single penny. All the deponents just narrated the assets and the bank accounts the Sharif family maintained, he said, without accusing them of pilfering any public money. The six-month time given to the accountability court by the Supreme Court in its July 28, 2017 judgment to decide these references expires a day before Wajid Zia testifies.

His testimony and cross-examination may take more than one day. Only then, the turn of the defence witnesses will come. It is not clear at this point of time about the length of time these deponents will consume. The next stage will be the arguments of the defence and prosecution lawyers. After that, the judge will write and release his judgment.

In the midst of this protracted process, the tenure of Judge Muhammad Bashir expires on March 12. The Islamabad High Court (IHC) chief justice has written to the federal law ministry for giving him another extension but the federal government is reluctant. Under the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO), the president of Pakistan (read the prime minister) appoints the judges of the accountability courts in consultation with the high court chief justice concerned. The law ministry is of the view that the present judge is serving in this position for the past six years and a new judicial officer should be proposed to replace him.

However, close to the expiry of the six-month deadline, the NAB is likely to approach Justice Ijazul Ahsan of the Supreme Court, who is the monitoring judge to supervise the trial of the Sharif family in the accountability court and different processes relating to it by the anti-graft agency, seeking more time and also pointing out that the tenure of the incumbent judge has neither been extended despite the IHC chief justice’s recommendation accepted nor a new judicial officer has been appointed in his place.

There is a possibility that the monitoring judge may order that Muhammad Bashir should continue till the disposal of the three cases against the Sharif family and one reference against former finance minister Ishaq Dar or may issue direction for new appointment at an early date.