Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday said that prosecution has failed to produce any oral or documentary evidence to establish that his children were dependent on him at the time of establishment of Flagship Investments Limited and other 15 companies. Sharif while recording his statement in the Flagship reference under Section 342 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) before Accountability Court Judge Muhammad Arshad Malik said that no witness appeared before the investigators stated that he ever owned these 16 companies or ever provided any fund for them.
At the start of the hearing, Sharif stood near the rostrum to verbally record his testimony but after recording answer to one question, the judge asked him to go back to his seat upon the request of Sharif's counsel.
Sharif said that only Wajid Zia, a prosecution witness and head of joint investigation team (JIT), and National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Investigation Officer Muhammad Kamran attempted to implicate him in the charges framed against him in the instant reference.
He also said that both Zia and Kamran admitted in their testimonies that they did not collect any evidence that he (Sharif) ever owned Flagship Investments Limited, Hartstone Properties Limited, Que Holdings Limited, Quint Eaton Place 2 Limited, Quint Saloane Limited (formerly Quint Eaton Place Limited), Quaint Limited, Flagship Securities Limited, Quint Gloucester Place Limited, Quint Paddington Limited (formerly Rivates Estates Limited), Flagship Developments Limited, Alanna Services Limited (BVI), Lankin SA (BVI), Chadron Inc, Ansbacher Inc, Coomber Inc, and Capital FZE (Dubai) or any other company owned or taken over by his sons.
Sharif said that both Zia and Kamran also stated that they did not collect any oral or documentary evidence that any of his children was his dependent at the time of the establishment of these companies or he ever contributed fund for running of these businesses.
He said that he has never claimed to be owner of any of the companies or businesses established by his late father or by any of his children in the UAE, KSA, the UK or anywhere else in the world. Prosecution has miserably failed to come up with any evidence to establish that he is the owner of these companies, which is the subject matter of the charge in the instant case, he said.
He said that charges framed against him in this reference did not prove but even then he would present some documents before the court.
Sharif answered 137 out of 141 questions posed to him by the Accountability Court. Khawaja Haris, the defence counsel, told the court that he would submit answers to four questions after making some corrections in them on Thursday (today).
During the course of hearing, Accountability Court Judge Muhammad Arshad Malik asked direct question from Sharif, "You should have asked from your children about the documents related to properties owned by them abroad."
To this, Khawaja Haris responded that Sharif's children are adults; hence he could not force them in this regard. The judge again said that he could question his children in this regard.
The former premier said that his son purchases flats and sells after refurbishing such properties. The judge remarked that money was transferred to Hassan Nawaz through Hussain Nawaz. If Hussain had joined the proceedings then the matter would have been resolved, he added.
Sharif also said that his sons were adult at the time when they started their independent businesses. "In any case, I have never been involved in any manner in the establishment of any business in the name of my sons," he said.
He said that prosecution witness Kamran stated that he has not come across any document that Hussain and Hassan were his (Sharif's) benamidar with respect to any business or company or company established by them in the United Kingdom (UK), the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the British Virgin Island (BVI).
Sharif said that there is no evidence on record that he started establishing business in the name of his co-accused Hassan and Hussain in the UK, the UAE and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).
The accused said that he never remained involved in establishment of Gulf Steel Mill (GSM) or its subsequent sale and utilisation of its sale proceeds. As such there was neither any occasion nor any requirement for him to produce any evidence in this case with respect to GSM, he said.
To another question, Sharif said that Qatari Prince Hamad Bin Jasim Al-Thani never denied the jurisdiction of Pakistani courts or to be part of any inquiry or investigation by the JIT for purpose of confirmation of the contents of his letters.
He said that prosecution witness Kamran stated that he had initiated mutual legal assistance (MLA) request to different foreign jurisdictions and also pursued the MLA requests initiated by the JIT through NAB headquarters, adding it is not only absolutely false but also establishes dishonesty with which the investigations into this case had been conducted.
Later, during the final arguments of Al-Azizia reference, Haris said that all the properties are in the name of sons of Nawaz Sharif and he has no connection with them. "The prosecution has not proved that Sharif is the benamidar of his sons," he said.
On this, the judge said that here is no question of banami transactions but here crime has been committed as benamidar. "You are raising the matter related to banami transaction in your arguments," the judge said, adding that in this case the accused have taken support of benamidar to hide the crime.
The court adjourned hearing of Flagship and Al-Azizia references till today (Thursday).
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