ISLAMABAD: The Joint Investigation Team (JIT) has apparently discarded the Sharif family’s key evidence - the letters of ex-Qatari prime minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al-Thani – on the basis of assumptions.

In Volume 5 of its report, which deals with the evidence Sheikh Al-Thani submitted before the Supreme Court during the hearing of Panama Papers case, the JIT repeatedly explains how – in their opinion – recording the Qatari royal’s statement would be an “exercise in futility” since he was not expected to provide any documents to substantiate his claims.

The Qatari letters were the mainstay of the defence mounted by the prime minster’s son, Hussain Nawaz, who claimed that the London properties were handed over to the Sharif family by the Al-Thanis under a settlement.

The Supreme Court, in its April 20 verdict, had tasked the JIT to answer 13 questions, one of which was related to verifying the authenticity of the Qatari letter.

Investigators ‘presumed’ Sheikh Al-Thani wouldn’t appear for cross-examination at trial stage

However, during the course of its two-month long probe, the JIT never recorded the statement of Sheikh Al-Thani, drawing the ire of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), who criticized the investigation team for omitting the statement of a “key defence witness”.

In the 104-page volume on the Qatari letters, the JIT presumed that Sheikh Al-Thani would not be available for cross-examination by the court at the time of a trial, therefore recording his statement was a wild goose chase.

The report said that since the Qatari royal was reluctant “to appear before any court or tribunal for any purpose whatsoever”, investigators said: “In the JIT’s humble assessment [it] also seemed inappropriate and potentially an exercise in futility as refusal to appear in a court or tribunal would have defeated the very underlying objective for which the JIT intended and needed to record his statement”.

Another reason for not recording Sheikh Al-Thani’s statement, as per the JIT report, was that since “JIT in its investigation has collected sufficient evidence… the appearance or non-appearance of Mr Al-Thani is not as significant as was assessed earlier”.

But despite its unflattering appraisal of the usefulness of his evidence, the JIT issued four summons to Sheikh Al-Thani, the last of which was sent on July 4, 2017, along with a detailed response “explaining the legal issues”.

That final summons, according to PML-N leaders Asif Kirmani and Talal Chaudhry, was considered “threatening”, as if the JIT were informing the Qatari royal that in case he recorded his statement, he would be asked to appear before the trial court as well.

In his response to the JIT on July 6, the former Qatari PM had said that he was not subject to the jurisdiction of Pakistani courts, but the report stated that he was willing to record his statement at his Doha palace.

In its two summons issued on May 13 and 28 respectively, the JIT had asked the ex-Qatari PM to appear before the investigation team at the JIT Secretariat at Federal Judicial Academy (FJA) in Islamabad.

However, after Sheikh Al-Thani expressed his inability to come to Pakistan, the investigation team on June 22 asked him to come to the Pakistani High Commission in Doha for the same purpose.

In response, the Qatari royal said on June 26 that he was not subject to the jurisdiction of Pakistani courts, offering instead to host the JIT at his palace.

The investigation team alleged that Sheikh Al-Thani “chose to delay his response”, which was “a tactical move to keep the defence of the respondents (Sharif family) alive.

The JIT also assumed that Qatari Prince would not provide them tangible documentary evidence, saying “Al-Thani has never indicated that he has or will be providing any documentation to substantiate the contents of the letters.”

“He simply offered to verify in person that he did sign the said letters and that he stands by their content,” the report further said.

The fifth volume of the report also discusses the response of UAE’s justice ministry, which did not support Hussain Nawaz’s claims regarding the money trail.

The JIT, therefore, concluded that the Qatari letters were a “myth, not reality”.

Published in Dawn, July 14th, 2017