A prosecution witness Friday told the Accountability Court that National Accountability Bureau (NAB) filed an interim reference with respect to the Avenfield properties against the Sharif family members on the basis of material collected by a joint investigation team (JIT) that probed the Panama Papers case.
Testifying before the Accountability Court Judge Muhammad Bashir in the Avenfield reference, Imran Dogar, while responding to a question of defense counsel Khawaja Haris, said that no additional material from FIA was available with the NAB before filing of the interim reference, adding that the material collected by the JIT was made part of interim reference.
Dogar said that he did not request the FIA or NAB for provision of any further material to use it in the reference. Earlier, Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Captain Muhammad Safdar (retd) appeared before the court.
The witness said that at the time of filing of interim references against the Sharif family, the bureau had not received any response to its mutual legal assistance (MLA) requests.
To a question, he said neither did he try to obtain original copy of family settlement nor did he associate any other member of the Sharif family in the investigation. Dogar said that none of the witnesses whose statements were recorded stated that Sharif is the benamidar owner of the Avenfield properties. To another question, the witness said that none of the witnessed said that Hussain Nawaz possess the Avenfield properties as benamidar of Nawaz Sharif.
He also said that none of the witnesses told the investigators that purchasing price of the Avenfield properties was paid by Nawaz Sharif. During the course of investigation, he has not come across any bank account of Sharif from where money for the purchase of the Avenfield properties was paid, the witness said. He said that none of the witnesses stated that any instructions were given by Nawaz Sharif with respect to two offshore companies Nielson and Nescoll.
The court adjourned the hearing till May 7 after Haris completed the cross-examination of the witness. On the next hearing, Maryam's counsel Amjad Pervaiz will start cross-examination of the investigation officer.
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