Islamabad(May 22, 2018): Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif while recording his statement in the Avenfield properties reference on Tuesday remarked that he wasn’t involved in any business dealings with the Qatari family.
Nawaz, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Capt (retd) Safdar are appearing before Accountability Judge Muhammad Bashir today.
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While speaking about letters written by Qatari Prince Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jabor al Thani, Nawaz said that the letters were verified by the prince himself in a letter written to the Supreme Court. “The JIT didn’t even record the statement of the Qatari prince.” He added
During the court proceedings, Nawaz in his statement once again brought up the issue of Joint Investigation Team head Wajid Zia employing the services of his cousin Akhtar Raja’s company to carry out an investigation against the Sharif family.
Nawaz also remarked that Jeremy Freeman had verified trust deeds of Comber group, Nielsen and Nescoll on January 5, 2017. “Freeman had a copy of the trust deeds at his office,” the former premier added.
Akhtar or investigating officer didn’t make any effort to obtain the copies of trust deeds from Freeman, Nawaz said.
The deposed PM also raised the issue of Akhtar Raja getting done forensics of photocopies. “Akhtar Raja should know there is no forensic review of photocopies. He emailed the documents to forensic experts in haste. Even the forensic expert was hesitant at first to conduct forensic of the documents.”
Nawaz also said that he was never the owner, director or shareholder of Capital FZE. “I was never affiliated with the business dealings of the company.”
Over the letter from the UAE’s Justice Ministry, Nawaz said that he was unaware that the letter came in response to any mutual legal assistance (MLA). “The letter was never presented as evidence in court, therefore, it cannot be used as proof,” he added.
Nawaz remarked that the Mosaic Fonseca letter presented by Zia cannot be used as a primary document, adding that the letter could not be certified as per the customary laws.
Yesterday, during the hearing of the case, Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif while recording his statement in Avenfield Reference raised questions over JIT’s formation, termed the Supreme Court’s July 28 verdict, as “inappropriate” and “unnecessary”.
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Answering the questions, Nawaz Sharif informed about the details of all the public offices he held so far.
Former Premier in his statement said that ” I am 68 years old and I had served as Chief Minister of Punjab and Prime Minister of Pakistan.
I had raised objection over JIT members under Article 10 (A) of the Constitution. JIT members were having political affiliation as Bilal Rasool was the nephew of former Punjab governor, sharif informed.
He also said that Rasool criticised the government of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz in the past and that his wife is a fervent supporter of PTI. 
He said that son of Mian Azhar, Hamad Azhar took a picture with Imran Khan in 2017, adding that Bilal Rasool had given anti-Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) statements.
Criticizing Wajid Zia, the former PM and PML-N Quaid said that Zia’s biases in the investigation have been evident from the start. 
Nawaz also remarked that it was inappropriate to include officers from MI and ISI in the JIT, adding that the JIT report was affected by the current strained civilian-military relations. Judge of the AC, Muhammad Bashir adjourned the hearing of the case till tomorrow(today) .
During Last hearing of the case on May 18, the statements of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif his daughter Maryam and son-in-law Capt (retd) Safdar in the Avenfield case could not be recorded as the defence sought more time to ponder over the questions sent by the accountability court.
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As the hearing went underway, Nawaz’s counsel Khawaja Haris pleaded the court to delay the recording of statements until Monday(today) as they need more time to go over the questions sent by court owing to some discrepancies.
The prosecution objected to the plea, saying the defence just wants to waste time.
However, Accountability Judge Mohammad Bashir approved the plea but observed that the recording of statements will not be delayed further than Monday.
Moreover, the court ruled that Panama case JIT head Wajid Zia, who was to be cross-examined in the Al Azizia reference on Monday, should now appear in court on Tuesday.
It may be recalled that Accountability Court handed over Questionaire to Nawaz Sharif on May 16.
Background Of The cases:
The trial against the Sharif family had commenced on September 14, 2017.
The corruption references, filed against the Sharifs, pertain to the Al-Azizia Steel Mills and Hill Metal Establishment, offshore companies including Flagship Investment Ltd, and Avenfield properties of London.
Nawaz and sons Hussain and Hasan are accused in all three references whereas his daughter Maryam and son-in-law Safdar are accused in the Avenfield reference only.
The two brothers, based abroad, have been absconding since the proceedings began last year and were declared proclaimed offenders by the court.
The court originally had a deadline of six months which ended in mid-March but was extended for two months after the judge requested the apex court.
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