Al-Azizia reference: Wajid submits details of cheques received by Maryam from Nawaz

ISLAMABAD: The joint investigation team (JIT) head Wajid Zia Friday continued with his statement in Al-Azizia/Hill Metal Establishment corruption reference amid a strained environment between prosecution and the defence.

Counsel for Nawaz Sharif Khawaja Haris was raising objections over the admissibility and relevance of the documents that Wajid Zia had been producing. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Deputy Prosecutor General (DPG) Sardar Muzaffar Abbasi had been contending that the defence counsel not letting the statement complete with his objections over every sentence of the witness.

It is to be mentioned here that previously, when Khawaja Haris was cross-examining Wajid Zia and Investigation Officer (IO) Imran Dogar in Avenfield apartments corruption reference, the NAB DPG was consistently raising objections, insisting that these objections must be recorded and on that particular time, Haris was complaining about the inappropriate attitude to the prosecution. During Friday’s proceedings, Wajid Zia produced before the court cheques that Nawaz Sharif received from Hussain Nawaz and Hill Metal Establishment Jeddah and also cheques he gave to his daughter Maryam Nawaz.

Wajid Zia also produced a letter of Qatari Prince Hamad bin Jasim that he had written to the JIT. The letter was made part of the judicial record. The prosecution also sought the court’s permission to submit some documents that came in response to the JIT’s mutual legal assistance applications to the UAE authorities.

Khawaja Haris however objected that these documents are not part of the reference. A NAB prosecutor Malik Wasiq sought the court’s permission to submit four cheques of the Standard Chartered Bank as evidence. Khawaja Haris said Zia had never been custodian to that record and he also did not execute those cheques. He said producing the same before the court would be a futile exercise.

Initially when Zia started recording of his evidence, he took a start from the statements of Hussain Nawaz, Hassan Nawaz and Maryam Nawaz that they had submitted before the Supreme Court. Zia also mentioned Avenfield properties. At this Haris protested and said that Hussain and Hassan are not before this court and Maryam is not an accused in this matter. The prosecution explained that these matters are connected. Haris said that he was saying from the day one to jointly record statement in the three corruption references and then “you people were opposing me”. The statement will continue on May 14.