Beneficial ownership of Nielson, Nescol enterprises: Hassan did not deny 'straightaway', Zia tells court

Hassan Nawaz, the younger son of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, did not deny straightaway that any member of his family remained the beneficial owner of Nielson and Nescol enterprises from 1996 to 2006. Wajid Zia, the key prosecution witness while testifying before the Accountability Court Judge Muhammad Bashir in the Avenfield properties case, said that Hassan was asked by the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) whether according to his knowledge, any member of his family had been the beneficial owner of the two companies during the period from 1996 to 2006.
"Hassan did not straightaway deny this and stated that he had no means to know this. The ownership of the two companies was through bearer shares at the stage and this response does not preclude possession of the bearer shares by Maryam Nawaz, the daughter of Sharif, in the period from 1996 to 2006," he said
At the outset of the hearing, the Accountability Court granted one-day exemption to Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz from appearance after their counsel Amjad Pervez informed the court that their flight was not able to take off from Lahore due to inclement weather.
Zia said that is correct that accused Maryam Nawaz stated before the JIT that she did not remember to ever have seen or posses bearer certificates of Nielson and Nescol enterprises.
Zia further said that Maryam though denied the possession of bearer certificates yet confirmed she was the trustee of the two companies. "The possession was contradicted with trust deeds which stated that she irrevocably and unconditionally confirms and declares that she will hold on trust shares of these special service vehicles."
The witness said that as per the documents attached with respondents' application, Minerva Nominees Limited is a registered shareholder of ordinary shares of Nielson as per share certificate No 002, dated July 4, 2006.
He said that none of the witnesses appeared before the JIT stated that bearer shares of Nescol had ever remained in the possession of accused Maryam. He said that it is correct that Hussain Nawaz has not stated before the JIT that bearer shares certificates of Nielson and Nescol enterprises had ever remained in the possession of accused Maryam.
"The word beneficiary in the trust deeds of Nielson and Nescol Enterprises was used for Hussain Nawaz. As per our point of view, these trust deeds were fake," the witness said.
Pervez questioned Zia if the JIT associated Minerva Nominees Limited, which is the registered share holder of Nielson. To this, Zia said that Minerva Nominee Limited was not associated by the JIT for investigation directly.
The defence counsel asked Zia if Minerva Nominees Limited is still the registered share holder of Nielson or it was transferred to another name.
Zia said that according to the replies submitted by the accused till June 9, 2014, Trustee Services Cooperation is the registered holder of ordinary shares of the Nielson and Nescol enterprises.
He said that the JIT had sent a mutual legal assistance (MLA) request to British Virgin Island (BVI) and requested for the possession of documents related to Nielson and Nescol enterprises but the response of BVI was awaited till the time of submission of the JIT report. So who is the latest registered share hold of Nielson and Nescol enterprises at present cannot be told for the same, he said.
"Did the JIT directly associate the management of Trustee Services Cooperation in investigation?" Pervez asked Zia. The witness said that the JIT did not directly associate Trustee Service Cooperation in investigation.
However, he said that the JIT came across one document in a reply from JPCA which stated that Trustee Services Corporation is the in-house cooperate company of JPCA and GAJ Gandaner was the sole director of the company which had no commercial activity in this regard. The JIT did not associate the said company but moved an MLA request to BVI, he said.
He said that the JIT did not discuss JPCA letter in the report directly. It is also correct that the JIT did not annex the JPCA letter with JIT report. The said letter was already attached with replies and was also available before the Supreme Court, he said.
Pervez asked Zia if the JIT collected any evidence to show that professional fee of services company was paid by Maryam. On this, Zia said that the JIT did not come across any evidence which showed that professional fee of services for Nielson and Nescol enterprises was paid by Maryam.
The JIT also did not come across any evidence that showed that Maryam paid ground rent of the Avenfield properties, he said. Zia said that the documents related to this kind of payment were not provided by any of the accused. The JIT moved an MLA to the UK authorities to get the documents related to the Avenfield properties but the response form the UK authorities were awaited till filing of the JIT report, he said.
He said that the JIT sent first MLA request on July 20, 2017 to BVI FIA. The JIT sought certification, verification and confirmation of documents, including corresponding between Financial Investigation Agency (FIA) BVI and Mossack Fonseca, a legal and professional services firm. The response of July 20, 2017 MLA was received through email dated June 16, 2017 which basically stated the request was not in conformity with the BVI laws and asked the JIT to submit additional information through MLA to further process the case.
Zia said that the JIT did not mention the response dated June 16, 2017 in its report. The JIT also did not append the response with its report, he said, adding that in response of to BVI letter, the JIT sent another MLA on June 23, 2017 which was responded through BVI letter already exhibited, he said.
He said that the JIT sent its second MLA request on May 30, 2017 and it was very detailed MLA which required a lot of documents from BVI companies Nielson and Nescol enterprises. The court asked the witness to produce original copies and response before the court. Later, the court adjourned the hearing till today (Tuesday).