ISLAMABAD: The National Account­ability Bureau (NAB) on Tuesday informed the accountability court that it had received evidence from foreign jurisdiction related to two references against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter and requested the court to bring it on its record.

NAB Deputy Prosecutor General Sardar Muzaffar Abbasi filed in the court an application saying that the bureau’s investigation team had received replies to the requests for mutual legal assistance (MLA) from foreign jurisdiction in the Avenfield and Flagship references and it wanted to place the documents before the court.

Accountability court judge Mohammad Bashir directed the prosecution and defence lawyers to present their arguments on the application on April 20.

Defence counsel completes cross-examination of JIT chief in Avenfield apartments reference

Meanwhile, the cross-examination of star prosecution witness Wajid Zia by the defence side in the Avenfield reference concluded on Tuesday.

During the cross-examination of the Joint Investigation Team head, defence counsel Amjad Pervez pointed out that the attorney general (AG) office of the British Virgin Islands (BVI) had earlier declined the MLA application of the JIT seeking details about Nielsen and Nescoll offshore companies and their beneficial owners.

Then the JIT through a second MLA requested the BVI to only provide certification of the BVI authorities correspondence with Mossack Fonseca.

The court directed Mr Zia to record his testimony in Al Azizia/Hill Metal Establishment references on April 23.

The JIT head told the court that it had been over a month since he had been appearing before it on a daily basis and it had made it difficult for him to look after his office and some domestic matters were also pending and, therefore, he needed a break.

During the cross-examination, Mr Zia produced JIT’s correspondence with the British Virgin Islands authorities related to requests for MLA.

Defence counsel Pervez asked Mr Zia what the JIT had sought through the MLA request to the attorney general of the British Virgin Islands on May 31 last year.

Mr Zia said the JIT had asked for certified copies of Nielsen Enterprises and Nescoll Limited, copies of all memorandum of article of association, copies of each altered memorandum, names and contact details of the two offshore companies, details about ultimate beneficial owner, registered directors, nominee directors, shareholders of the companies since their inception, registered agents since their inception, register of directors, mortgages, minutes of the first resolution of the companies, names and contact details of the settlers, trustees, beneficiaries and certified copies of shares with endorsements.

“We also sought correspondence between the Financial Investigation Agency of the British Virgin Islands (FIA-BVI) and Mossack Fonseca dated June 12, 2012,” Mr Zia said. This correspondence was between FIA-BVI Director Errol George and Mossack Fonseca Money Laundering Reporting Officer J. Nizbeth, he added.

Advocate Amjad then asked Mr Zia whether the JIT sent another MLA request to the AG-BVI after May 31, 2017.

Mr Zia said that it was on June 23, 2017 that the last MLA request was sent.

Mr Amjad asked what the JIT sought in the June 23, 2017 MLA request.

Mr Zia said that the JIT asked for confirmation and related certification of the documents in FIA-BVI record and also confirmation of the correspondence between Mr George and Mr Nizbeth in which the former had raised questions about Nielsen and Nescoll companies.

Mr Amjad asked whether it was correct that the JIT’s May 31, 2017 MLA request was rejected by the AG-BVI.

Mr Zia said that it was incorrect as the MLA request declined by the AG-BVI was dated May 20, 2017.

Advocate Amjad then confronted the prosecution witness with the documents and pointed out that it was not May 20, 2017 MLA request but rather May 31, 2017 request that was rejected through a letter dated June 16, 2017.

Mr Zia admitted this fact and said apparently it was a mistake.

When Advocate Amjad asked the JIT head whether the MLA request of May 20, 2017 was sent to the FIA-BVI inadvertently, the latter replied in the affirmative.

The defence counsel pointed out that the AG-BVI letter dated July 4, 2017 was not attached to the JIT report’s volume IV, to which Mr Zia agreed.

The defence counsel also pointed out several discrepancies in the documents, like these were not notarised, certified. More­over, in two letters of the FIA-BVI dated June 12, 2012 and July 3, 2017, the insignia and address were different from each other.

Mr Zia said that telephone numbers and email addresses were the same.

Published in Dawn, April 18th, 2018