Wajid tells court: No bank record Nawaz in receipt of salary

ISLAMABAD: The Joint Investigation Team (JIT) head Wajid Zia told an accountability court, hearing the Avenfield properties reference against Nawaz Sharif and his family, here on Thursday that Nawaz Sharif received his last salary on Aug 11, 2013 for the month of July, 2013, though no bank record was available that it was, in fact, Nawaz Sharif who himself received this salary.

Wajid Zia admitted that the JIT obtained only an employment certificate from the Jabal Ali Free Zone Authority (Jafza), which did not mention the names of Capital FZE employees or the amount of their salaries. He further admitted that the JIT did not get any other document like banking transaction record or the receipts to prove that Mian Nawaz Sharif had received any salary. The employment certificate of FZE issued by Jafza mentioned only two employees without their names, saying their mode of salary payment was “over the counter (OTC)”.

The counsel for Nawaz Sharif, Khwaja Haris Ahmad continued cross-examination of Wajid Zia on Thursday, which is still incomplete despite nine hearings so far. Responding to questions of Kh Haris, Wajid Zia admitted that except for the “Screen Shots” of the employment certificate, it had no other record to prove that the salary was either transferred to the account of Nawaz Sharif or he signed any receipts for receiving cash amount through OTC.

A five-member Supreme Court bench had disqualified Nawaz Sharif on July 28, 2017 for holding any public office on the issue of the receivable salary from the Capital FZE, owned by Hassan Nawaz. Wajid Zia admitted on Thursday that the “screen shot” of the employment certificate had a stamp on it, but it had no mention that the document was certified. Advocate Haris pointed out that the document had a stamp and not a seal. A seal is supposed to be embossed.

Wajid Zia told the court that two JIT members -- Irfan Mangi of NAB and Brigadier Kamran Khursheed of military intelligence -- had travelled to Dubai for investigation of the Sharif family business. With reference to FZE, the JIT did not collect any other documents except for employment certificates with no mention of dates. However, an employment visa application was dated July 5, 2006 that the JIT did not acquire.

Wajid Zia stated that Jafza had a record of all the companies that shows that wages had been paid to the employees. Zia, however, admitted that the documents attached with the employment certificates had no mention of the name of Nawaz Sharif. Wajid Zia said the JIT did not write any application of mutual legal assistance (MLA) for getting documents pertaining to FZE and it instead got ‘Source’ document through a law firm Guernica 37 International Chambers. After this a source document dated June 17, 2017 came under discussion, Kh Haris said that a source document is not reliable unless corroborated.

When cross-examination was under way, NAB Deputy Prosecutor General Sardar Muzaffar Abbasi raised objection that since the defence counsel had discussed this ‘Source’ document, therefore it is now necessary to exhibit the document as valid evidence. The accountability court then also took up an application where Wajid Zia had said that he didn’t want to disclose his privileged communication with Quist solicitors. The Accountability Court reserved order in the said application and put of the hearing till today(Friday).

During Thursday’s proceedings, Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz did not come to the court due to flight cancellation in Lahore due to bad weather. Captain (retd) Muhammad Safdar, however, remained present in the court.