FAZAL SHER

ISLAMABAD: Deputy Prosecutor General National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Sardar Muzaffar Abbasi on Thursday told the Accountability Court that former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is the real owner of the Avenfield apartments.

“Accused Sharif and his other family members hid their ownership through offshore companies Nieslon and Nescoll that own the Avenfield apartments,” said the deputy prosecutor general NAB in his closing arguments, which continued for the third consecutive day, in the Avenfield reference filed against the Sharif family.

He said the letters of Mossack Fonseca are the irrefutable evidence of beneficial ownership of Nawaz Sharif’s daughter Maryam Nawaz. “Mossack Fonseca in its letter dated June 12, 2012 had confirmed to Financial Investigation Agency (FIA) British Virgin Islands (BVI) that Maryam Nawaz is the beneficial owner of offshore companies that own London properties,” he said, adding that the letter of Mossack Fonseca has no mention of trustee.

Former Premier Sharif appeared before the court amid tight security arrangements. He was later allowed to go. At the start of the hearing, the counsel for Maryam and Captain Safdar (retd) filed a one-day exemption plea for his clients and the court approved the request.

The deputy prosecutor general said that there is no record to show that bearer share certificates were transferred from Qatari Prince Hamad Bin Jassim to Hussain Nawaz.

The joint investigation team (JIT) that probed the Panama Papers case tried and wrote seven letters to the Qatari prince to record his statement to substantiate his letters but he did not appear before the JIT on one or the other pretext, he said.

Abbasi also said that following the response of Ministry of Justice of the UAE to Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) request, it became clear that share sale agreement of 1980 does not exist and at this stage the statement of the Qatari prince had become irrelevant even then the JIT made several attempts to record his statement. He denied the allegations of defense side that the Qatari prince was threatened by the JIT.

The DPG NAB said if JIT did not record the statement of Qatari royal Prince Hamad bin Jassim intentionally then why defense side could not produce him as their witness.

He said a question was asked whether sudden appearance of letters of Qatari Prince Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jabar Al-Thani was a myth or reality. As per the investigation of JIT, the letter of Qatari Prince was only a myth, he added.

Abbasi said the defense counsel during cross-examination did not challenge the stance of forensic expert Robert W Radley that Calibri font was not commercially available before Jan 31, 2007. Radley stated that before 2007 Calibri font was available to IT experts and developers, he said, adding that Radley was himself using Calibri font as he had knowledge of IT.

The DPG said that the JIT had associated Jeremy Freemen who signed the trust deeds but he refused to answer the question of JIT properly.

He said that Hussain Nawaz during an interview to a private TV channel said that according to Shariah law, the owner of London flats is his father. “The prosecution has proved the ownership and possession of London flats in the court,” he said.

The NAB DPG said that accused Sharif in his address to the nation and speech in the National Assembly said that all record related to London properties is available. “There was no mention of Qatari prince’s letters in the speeches of Sharif,” he said.

He said that as per evidence, Hussain and Hassan Nawaz had no source of income at the time of procurement of the London flats. “Hassan, Hussain and Maryam were the dependents of Nawaz Sharif at the time of purchase of London apartments,” he said.

Abbasi said that the interviews of the accused had been produced before the court as evidence while the defense produced by the accused proved fake. He said that Al-Taufeeq litigation has nothing to do with the Qatari prince.

Earlier, talking to reporters informally inside the Accountability Court about the verdict of the Supreme Court in nomination papers case, Sharif asked where the parliament stands today and where other three pillars of state are.