LAHORE, June 28: Three more prosecution witnesses (PWs) produced by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) before a special court for banking offences on Tuesday denied having given any statement against PML-Q MPA Moonis Elahi in the National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) land scam case.

Five out of total 8 PWs had already informed the court that they never recorded their statements against Moonis before the agency or any court of law.

On Tuesday, Safdar Ali, a cashier of UBL’s Lahore Airport branch, testified that it was Adil Manzoor, who had come to the bank with a cheque and withdrawn the money. He rejected the claim of FIA that Muhammad Maalick, manager of Moonis, had visited the bank to withdraw the money. Ali further said that the FIA had summoned him but he had not recorded any statement.

Another witness and ABL’s Multan Road branch vice-president, Maroofur Rehman, also rejected the claim of the FIA and said Khadim Rasool had himself come to the bank and got an account opened. He said it was Rasool, who later withdrew the money himself from the said account. Rehman said the FIA had summoned him but he never recorded any statement.

Hafiz Shahid Bilal, cashier of the ABL’s Multan Road branch, also testified that only Rasool used to come to the bank to withdraw the money. He said payments had been made to Khadim after verifying his identification.

Both bank cashiers also informed the court that they could recognise Adil and Khadim. At this, the court asked them to point out whether any of them was present in the court, however, they responded with a “no”. The court later adjourned further hearing of the case till July 5.

Earlier, the FIA produced Moonis and other accused under strict security arrangements. PML-Q workers also came to the court to support their leader. — Staff Reporter