ISLAMABAD: A prosecution witness told Accountability Court that the documents he produced before it in the Park Lane case against former president Asif Ali Zardari and others were neither prepared nor signed by him.
The prosecution witness, Ahsan Aslam, joint registrar Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), during cross-examination by defence counsel Arshad Tabraz told Accountability Court-II judge that the documents he produced before it were neither prepared and signed nor prepared in his presence.
Tabraz counsel for Abdul Ghani Majeed asked the witness that when he appeared before the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) investigation officer (IO). The witness replied he appeared before the IO on February 25, 2018. I have not produced the letter written by the IO of the case for production of record before the court, he said, adding that the letter for requisition of record was not addressed to him.
Who asked to produce the record? The defence counsel asked the witness. Aslam said that Muhammad Naeem Khan in-charge Companies Registration Office (CRO) had asked him verbally to hand record to the IO. He said that he took the record from Karachi to Islamabad for producing it before the IO. The witness said that he does not remember the date on which in-charge CRO asked me to produce the record.
The prosecution witness further said that he had sought permission from the head office for handing over the record to the IO. I have not produced the said permission letter in the court, he said, when he was asked did he produce that letter from the court.
When he was asked by the defence counsel that how many times he appeared before the IO in this case, the witness said that he appeared once before the IO in this case. I alone came to the IO for production of record, which he took through seizure memo in the presence of witnesses, he said.
The court adjourned hearing of the case till September 27, after Tabraz completed cross-examination of the prosecution witness.
Last year, the accountability court indicted former president and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and others in a case involving allegations of money laundering and misuse of authority in Park Lane reference. According to the charges levelled against Zardari, he influenced the relevant authorities during his tenure as president to release loans to front companies. He was accused of being a director of the Park Lane Company, and planning to commit fraud. The former president allegedly got his front company, Parthenon (Private) Limited, a loan of Rs1.5 billion with ill intention, and the money was then transferred for his personal use through fake accounts.
The Park Lane case is being investigated under different sections of the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO), 1999, and the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2010, over Zardari’s alleged involvement in extending loan and its misappropriation by Parthenon (Private) Limited.
The NAB has accused the former president of causing the national exchequer a loss of Rs3.77 billion through fake bank accounts. The anti-graft watchdog alleged that the accused created ‘benami’ properties through Park Lane Company using Parthenon (Private) Limited as the front company. Using the money acquired through loans, eight floors were constructed at the IBC Centre. Initially, a loan of Rs1.5 billion was taken that gradually increased to Rs4 billion. Other accused in the case, include, Omni Group chief Anwar Majeed, Sher Ali, Farooq Abdullah, Saleem Faisal, and Muhammad Hanif.
Meanwhile, the same court, while hearing mega money laundering case against former president Zardari, his sister Faryal Talpur and others adjourned it till September 27, after defence counsel Imran Shafiq completed cross-examination of Muhammad Naeem Khan, a senior official of the SECP.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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