ISLAMABAD: Rejecting the report presented by British forensic expert Robert Radley, a star witness in the reference pertaining to Avenfield properties, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Maryam Nawaz on Friday insisted that the trust deeds related to offshore companies were original.

She testified before the accountability court — the second consecutive day she recorded her statement under Section 342 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) — and claimed that Mr Radley’s report was erroneous and inadmissible in court, because he had earlier admitted that the Calibri font was available in 2005 and could be used by anyone who downloaded it.

Maryam said her brother Hussain Nawaz was the real and beneficial owner of the London flats and she had been made a trustee of them. She said the group trust deeds of Nielsen, Nescoll and Coomber Group were original and Wajid Zia, head of the JIT that probed corruption allegations against former prime minister and her father Nawaz Sharif, had intentionally made a misleading statement.

Responding to a question about her brother’s interview with BBC in November 1999, in which he had claimed that he lived on rented property and was not aware of who owned the Avenfield apartments, Maryam said the question had nothing to do with her.

Says her brother was the real and beneficial owner of London flats

She, however, added that it was a known fact that her grandfather had looked after the entire family and provided for their expenses, even fixing the pocket money they were given each month. About another interview that her brother gave, in which he had admitted ownership of the flats, Maryam said that he owned the apartments through the offshore companies Nescoll and Nielsen, and added that he was beneficial owner of these companies and she was made trustee.

Insisting that the trust deeds for Nescoll, Nielson and Coomber Group were genuine, Maryam said she had produced two declarations before the JIT which were certified by a notary public as being the true and exact copies of the original documents. She said the JIT head had made a false and misleading statement before the court in this regard, and added that she had verified them and found them to be original.

Regarding the forensic examination of trust deeds, Maryam said the manner in which Mr Radley’s services were engaged, the way he was given the documents, and the extent and scope of the assignment given to him, in the light of evidence brought on record, were highly suspect and thus his report lacked credence. Mr Radley was engaged by Akhtar Riaz Raja of Quist Solicitor who happened to be the first cousin of Mr Zia, she said, adding that there was no plausible reason as to why the JIT had engaged Mr Radley’s services through Mr Raja when he could have been engaged directly or through the Foreign Office.

“In fact, [Mr Radley’s] services were engaged through Mr Raja to procure an utterly false and manipulated report which suits the designs of the JIT — to implicate me and my husband in the case,” she said.

She pointed out that the report had been prepared on the basis of comparison of scanned copies which was not permissible under the law or the standard norms of forensic science. The opinion rendered in the report was neither conclusive nor strong, she said, adding that of the four signatories, three had appeared before the JIT and confirmed that they had signed the document on respective dates, a fact further corroborated by the Solicitors, Freeman Box and Jeremy Freeman.

The PML-N leader contended that in view of the overwhelming evidence, it would be wrong to rely implicitly on the report, which was, at best, uncorroborated. “The JIT decided on its own — without any reference of an SC order — to procure the so-called expert opinion on the trust deeds with mala fide intent,” she added.

About the settlement with the Qatari royal family, she said the record showed that Qatari Prince Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al-Thani had not refused to join the JIT proceedings, and had expressed willingness to do so at his palace in Qatar. She said the Qatari prince had also confirmed the veracity of the contents of the two letters.

Maryam could answer only 82 of the total 128 questions put to her by the court on Friday. The proceedings were adjourned till May 28.

Published in Dawn, May 26th, 2018