Key witness tells court: Sharif never said he remained involved in Dubai steel business

Deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif never stated before the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) that he had remained involved in the business of Gulf Steel Mill or received any money in pursuant of sale of 25 percent shares of Ahli Steel Mill, key prosecution witness Wajid Zia told the Accountability Court on Monday.
During the hearing of Avenfield reference, defense counsel Khawaja Haris continued the cross-examination of Zia. Haris asked Zia if Nawaz Sharif has ever stated that he participated in the business of Gulf Steel Mill. On this, Zia said that Sharif never stated that he remained involved in the business of Gulf Steel Mill.
To another question, the witness said, "Sharif also did not make any statement before the JIT that he had received any money in pursuant of the sale of 25 percent shares of Ahli Steel Mill." Other witnesses who were associated with investigation also did not state that Nawaz Sharif remained part of Gulf Steel Mill business, he said.
Zia said that Sharif stated before the JIT that since the commencement of Gulf Steel Mill, he may have visited Dubai twice and remained there only for one or two days. Earlier, Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Captain Muhammad Safdar (retd) appeared before Accountability Court Judge Muhammad Bashir in the Avenfield reference amid tight security arrangements.
During his cross-examination, Zia said that the JIT did not verify the 1978 share sale agreement under which 75 percent shares of Gulf Steel Mill were sold. The JIT also did not verify whether or not the Gulf Steel Mill was set up, he added. Haris questioned Zia about 1978 and 1980 agreements which revealed that 75 per cent of the shares of the steel mill belonged to Abdullah Ahli while the remaining 25 percent remained in the name of Tariq Shafi.
Haris asked Zia if the JIT got it verified whether any business in the name of Gulf Steel had been carried out in Dubai from 1978 to 1980, Zia replied that the JIT had asked Tariq Shafi to produce the relevant documents but he failed. The witness said that the JIT also sent a mutual legal assistance (MLA) request to Dubai authorities to produce relevant documents regarding Gulf Steel but the reply is still awaited.
Zia said that in order to carry out the business of Gulf Steel Mill, the JIT had associated Shahbaz Sharif, the younger brother of Nawaz Sharif, as one of the witnesses of the 1978 agreement. To a question, the witness said the JIT did not associate any other person, except Shahbaz Sharif and Tariq Shafi, in the investigations who in anyway remained involved in running the business from 1978 to 1980.
The witness said that except Tariq Shafi, the JIT did not associate any other person with setting up of Ahli Steel Mill. All the witnesses appeared before the JIT confirmed the fact that Gulf Steel Mill was set up in 1973 and not in 1978. The witnesses appeared before the JIT also confirmed that the 75 percent shares of Gulf Steel Mill were sold in 1978 to Abdullah Kayed Ahli. It is also correct that the remaining 25 percent share were sold to Ahli in 1980, he said.
The witness said that it is correct that all the witnesses appeared before the JIT also confirmed that after the sale of 75 percent shares of Gulf Steel Mill to Ahli, the name of Gulf Steel Mill was changed to Ahli Steel Mill and 25 percent shares remained with Tariq Shafi.
Zia said that JIT did not feel the need to verify the professional licence from the Dubai municipality "as well as neither did we feel the need to verify the contents and authenticity of the professional licence for Gulf Steel Mill for the purpose of ascertaining whether Abdullah Ahli and Tariq Shafi had indeed been working as partners with effect from 1978 as the same was submitted in the Supreme Court by the accused."
Zia said, "On the basis of record produced, we presumed these documents to be true." He said that it is correct that as per the contents of professional license, the name of the company was Ahli and it had two partners; one from the UAE namely Ahli and other from Pakistan Tariq Shafi.
To a question, he said the documents provided by the Supreme Court included constitutional petitions, multiple CMAs-application and replies and the petitions and responses filed against the Sharif family. To a question, Zia said he cannot be precise about the number of days spent in analyzing the SC documents.
Zia said that all such documents came to his notice when the JIT was conducting the examination of papers including the land rent agreement. He said he had gone through the land rent agreement, adding, "We did not send any team for authentication of document." He said the one million square feet land allotted to the mill and the rent agreement between Tariq Shafi and Mohammad Hussain regarding the availability and the setting up of the steel mill were verified during the examination.