ISLAMABAD: An accountability court hearing Avenfield reference against former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz on Tuesday accepted their applications for exemption from hearing on Tuesday.
Counsel for Nawaz and Maryam, Khawaja Harris told the court that both of his clients could not reach Islamabad from Lahore due to bad weather and thus be granted exemption from hearing.
NAB Court Judge Muhammad Bashir asked Harris if the third accused was present in the court to which he replied in the affirmative. The court then accepted the exemption pleas of Nawaz and Maryam and started hearing the case.
Sharif family’s counsel Khawaja Haris continued cross examining the head of Joint Investigation Team, Wajid Zia. In his statement, Zia maintained that the copies of volume 10 were not provided to NAB and were only seen by the defence lawyer. He told that JIT did not conduct any further probe pertaining to Avenfield survey site plan.
The accountability court directed Wajid Zia to submit petition in the Supreme Court for the attainment of Volume 10.
During the previous hearings, Wajid Zia told that the team didn’t contact Jerry Freeman directly to confirm the authenticity of trust deed provided by Sharifs in Supreme Court (SC).
“Its right that unanimously approved questionnaire was sent to Jerry Freeman by JIT”, Zia said in court upon the cross questioning of legal counsel of Nawaz Sharif.
He further added that “JIT contacted Jerry Freeman through a solicitor for the confirmation of Sharif family’s trust deed”.
Head of Panama JIT told Jerry Freeman confirmed that Hassan Nawaz signed two trust deeds of Nelson and Nescol on January 2, 2006 and Jerry Freeman had signed as witness on the papers. The copies of mentioned papers are available at Jerry Freeman, he continued. Khawaja Harris asked Wajid Zia that whether you summoned Jerry Freeman to Pakistan with all evidences and documents, the prosecution witness said “No”. NNI
