ISLAMABAD: Star prosecution witness Wajid Zia in the Al-Azizia Mill/ Hill Metal Establishment reference against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif conceded before the accountability court on Friday that the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) did not verify the documents provided to it by Hussain Nawaz.

Hussain Nawaz, the son of the ousted prime minister, had handed over the documents related to registration and loan agreements of Hill Metal to him on June 3, said Mr Zia in response to a question by the defence counsel Khawaja Haris Ahmed during his cross-examination.

The Supreme Court in its April 20, 2017 order had constituted the JIT to probe the Panama Papers allegations against the Sharif family and tasked it to find answers to 13 questions including the one about how Hill Metal had been established.

JIT chief testifies that there are dozens of pieces of indirect evidence to prove Nawaz is Hill Metal’s real owner

In a subsequent verdict on July 28, the apex court directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to file three references against Nawaz Sharif and his children in Avenfield Properties, Al-Azizia/Hill Metal Establishment and Flagship Investment Co.

The JIT head admitted that the JIT did not send any fresh request for mutual legal assistance to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to verify the documents handed over by the son of Mr Sharif after the KSA authorities did not respond to an earlier request for mutual legal assistance. He could not respond to the question if Hill Metal was the sole proprietorship, corporation or a company but testified before the court that Hill Metal was established in 2005.

Responding to another question, Mr Zia admitted that not a single witness or direct evidence came across during the investigation that claimed Nawaz Sharif’s ownership of Hill Metal.

He said the JIT could not trace any evidence to establish that the former prime minister financed or operated Hill Metal, but there were dozens of pieces of ‘indirect evidence’ to substantiate the claim that Mr Sharif was the real owner of Hill Metal. He pointed out that the Hill Metal’s total earning from 2010 till 2015 was $9.9 million out of which Hussain Nawaz gifted $8.9 million (88 per cent of the profit) to the former PM.

About Al-Azizia Steel Mills, when Mr Zia testified that there were three shareholders of the mill namely Hussain Nawaz, Rabia Shahbaz and Abbas Sharif. The defence counsel objected, arguing that the witness had already placed this information before the court and therefore he was not supposed to repeat this during the cross-examination.

Special prosecutor Wasiq Malik argued that since the question put to the witness was not general but specific, therefore the witness had the right to substantiate the answer while giving the background information.

Mr Zia testified that the JIT did not procure record of payments related to Al-Azizia Steel Mills to the two other shareholders, Rabia and Abbas Sharif. He said the JIT did not summon Rabia or legal heirs of the late Abbas Sharif to obtain further details regarding Al-Azizia Mills.

The accountability court later adjourned proceedings till June 4.

General elections

In an informal talk with media persons, Mr Sharif who was accompanied by Makhdoom Javed Hashmi and other PML-N leaders, warned the quarters which he said were trying to delay the general elections that they would not succeed. This happened in the past too but this time they appeared to be more active, he added.

Mr Hashmi earlier congratulated Mr Sharif on the completion of the PML-N government’s five-year term.

When a reporter sought PML-N’s comments in case the general elections were delayed, Mr Sharif asked Mr Hashmi to respond. Mr Hashmi then said the elements who were trying to postpone the elections were the worst enemy of democracy.

Published in Dawn, June 2nd, 2018