Finance Minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar's counsel and National Accountability Bureau (NAB) special prosecutor Monday exchanged harsh words when the former accused the NAB witness of lying during the cross-examination in the fifth hearing of the graft case against the minister. NAB Special Prosecutor Imran Shafiq, while responding to the accusation of Dar's counsel Khawaja Harris, said the defence lawyers should avoid direct interaction with the witness regarding misstatement before the court. "You want us to leave the court. In the previous hearing an attempt was made to get us out of the court. But we are here and will continue to pursue the case," he further said.
Accountability Court Judge Muhammad Bashir completed the recording of the testimony of prosecution witness Tariq Javed, Vice-President Al Baraka Bank, who was produced before the court by Special Prosecutor Imran Shafiq.
Proceedings started at around 12:00 noon on Monday, as earlier the court went on recess after rejecting Dar's plea to be exempted from appearance, observing that the accused needs to be present when witnesses record their statements. He is also required to be in the courtroom when witnesses are cross-examined.
Hussain Mufti, Dar's associate counsel, informed the court that the lead counsel will be available to appear by noon. He also pleaded the judge to exempt his client from appearance for one day due to the official work.
To this, the judge remarked that the lead counsel can present the exemption arguments when he appears in the court and went on recess till 12:00 noon.
When the hearing resumed at noon, Khawaja Harris appeared in the court and argued for his client's one-day exemption on grounds that his client is going to attend a cabinet meeting.
To this, the NAB prosecutor argued that the minister should relieve himself from official work and be present in the court. A busy schedule cannot an excuse to take exemption from the court and an exemption can be granted when the accused is seriously ill, he said, adding that no duty is more important for the accused than his appearance before the court.
He said if exemption has been given on these grounds then no one will appear in the court. Harris submitted, "We did not plead for permanent exemption though."
To this, the judge said, "Lets start the proceedings and the matter related to the exemption will be discussed later."
The prosecution witness Tariq Javed produced the copies of purported email exchanged between the bank and NAB before the court and defence lawyer. During the previous hearing, when Javed asked as to who had asked him to provide evidence in the case, he revealed that he had received an email, which he couldn't present before the court in the previous hearing. To this, Harris had told the court that he would conclude the cross-examination after the witness brought the email record before the court.
Javed said that an email was sent to bank manager Masroor Hussain Rao by NAB who forwarded it to branch manager Mohsin Amjad and also sent a copy of it to him on August 16, 2017. It was also received by the branch manager Karachi on the same date, he said, adding that the NAB letter was not mentioned in the email.
To this, Harris said the NAB letter has not been mentioned in the emails. The NAB prosecutor said that the subject of email is the letter of the NAB.
Harris further said that the witness did not receive the email. To this, NAB prosecutor said the witness has submitted the entire record before the court; therefore, he should not waste court's time. The accused has called the record from Karachi head office in accordance with the directives of the court, he said.
During the cross-examination of Tariq Javed, Harris accused the witness of lying in the court after the witness said that he had not thoroughly read the documents submitted in the court.
The witness further said that accounts, details of which he has submitted before the court, were not opened in front of him or by him. The NAB's special prosecutor said a bank officer needs not to know how a company works and it was the job of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) to inform the court on the matter.
The court after completion of cross-examination of the prosecution witness adjourned the hearing till October 18 and summoned two more witnesses including Masood-ul-Ghani, manager operation of Habib Bank Limited Islamabad, and Abdul Rahman Gondal of Allied Bank to the next hearing.