Nawaz received last salary in Aug 2013: witness
FAZAL SHER
ISLAMABAD: Star prosecution witness Wajid Zia on Thursday told the Accountability Court that deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had received his last salary from Capital FZE - a UAE-based company on August 11, 2013 for the month of July.
The counsel for Sharif family, Khawaja Haris, continued cross-examination of the prosecution witness Wajid Zia – the head of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) that probed the Panama Papers case - in the Avenfield reference filed against Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Captain Muhammad Safdar (retd) for the seventh day.
At the outset of hearing, Haris informed the Accountability Judge Mohammad Bashir that Nawaz Sharif and his daughter could not reach the federal capital due to bad weather. He also filed separate applications seeking exemption for Sharif and Maryam from attending the hearing on Thursday.
The court approved the request but directed Nawaz Sharif’s son-in-law Captain Safdar to remain present in the court.
Zia said that as per the documents, including employment certificate at Capital FZE issued by Jebel Ali Free Zone Authority (JAFZA), the contract of employment with Capital FZE and the screenshots of the details regarding disbursement of salaries to Sharif from Capital FZE owned by Hussain Nawaz, it is correct that Sharif received his last salary for the month of July 2013 on August 11, 2013.
The witness said that apart from these documents - payment sheets – the JIT does not have any other document to show the payment from Capital FZE.
When Haris asked Zia whether the JIT had any bank record to show that Sharif had received salary from Capital FZE. On this Zia said that no evidence pertaining to bank record was collected by the JIT to show that any amount of salary was transmitted from Capital FZE account to the bank account of Sharif.
To another question, Zia said that the JIT did not collect any receipt signed or executed on behalf of Sharif to show that he had received any salary from Capital FZE.
However, he made it clear that there is Wages Protection System in Dubai which requires the companies to file certification that the employees have been paid. “So the payment certificate of JAFZA is certification that such a payment has been made,” Zia further said.
Haris asked Zia about the change made on salary certificate from AED100,000 to AED10,000. To this Zia expressed his unawareness and said that the employment contract was not prepared in front of him. But the actual amount of salary was AED100,000 which was shown on papers, Zia accepted.
Zia said that the JIT did not take into position the certificate of Capital FZE showing any salary deposited in the account of Sharif.
He said that payment sheet did not mention specifically the name of Nawaz Sharif but the documents are related to Sharif. He said that the JIT had asked its two members who visited Dubai to collect all record and relevant evidence of Sharifs’ businesses in Dubai and the record related to Capital FZE.
When defense counsel asked Zia if the two members of JIT collected any document during investigation that proved that Capital FZE paid salary to Sharif.
Zia replied that this is not an assumption. In a lighter mood, Zia asked Haris that he did not object to this document in the Supreme Court.
He said that the JIT did not send any MLA to Dubai for verifying documents related to Capital FZE. There were also some other documents regarding Capital FZE obtained by JIT.
Haris asked Zia whether the JIT included in its report that two members of the team had traveled to Dubai to obtain documents for Capital FZE, to which Zia replied that it was recorded there. On the seventh page of Volume-1, this information has been included, he added.
He said that the JIT did not record the statement of the individual who stamped and verified the company documents.
The court after hearing arguments of both the parties over source document and making the documents record confidential adjourned the hearing till today (Friday).
