Sharif owned London flats, IO tells accountability court

Admits neither SC nor NAB issued directive for fresh investigation

ISLAMABAD: An investigation officer in the Avenfield Apartments reference admitted before an accountability court on Wednesday that neither the Supreme Court nor the NAB chairman issued any directives to conduct a 'fresh investigation'.

Imran Dogar also testified before the court that on the basis of the documents acquired it was concluded that Sharif was benamidar (front man) of the London apartments and had failed to provide the money trail for the property.

He admitted that the Supreme Court and the NAB chairman had issued directives to 'prepare and file' the reference pertaining to the Avenfield Apartments against the Sharif family within six weeks from July 28, 2017 on the basis of the material collected and referred to by the Joint Investigation Team (JIT).

He conceded that no directive for a 'fresh investigation' was mentioned by the Supreme Court in its judgment passed on July 28, 2017, or the NAB chairman's letter pertaining to authorisation of the investigation to the director general, Lahore, in the case following the top court judgment.

"It is correct that fresh investigation was not authorised in the EBM [Executive Board Meeting held on July 31, 2017]," Dogar said while answering Nawaz Sharif's counsel, Khawaja Haris.

To another question, Dogar admitted that no directive of fresh investigation was mentioned in the Supreme Court's judgment of July 28.

He also said that NAB had no other option but to prepare and file reference(s) in line with the Supreme Court order and on the basis of the material collected and referred to by the JIT.

He, however, voluntarily explained that the fresh investigation was conducted for the implementation of the Supreme Court judgment.



Earlier, Dogar, while agreeing that the NAB chairman can delegate powers of investigation under Section 18 (cognisance of offences) of the NAB Ordinance of 1999, to any officer of NAB and in the Avenfield reference, the chairman had authorised NAB director general Lahore to do so.

In the NAB chairman's letter to the director general, Dogar admitted while answering Haris' question, there was only one directive: "to prepare and file reference" and it was only for him and not any other investigation team.

He, however, said it was incorrect to suggest that no directive was given for the 'investigation' as well as the NAB chairman had not authorised the Lahore director general to file the reference in the case.

He subsequently showed the minutes of the EBM to Haris, saying the directive to file the reference was given in the meeting.

When Haris asked if the NAB chairman directed the NAB Lahore director general to file reference in the meeting, Dogar replied in the negative.

Before cross examination, he concluded his statement against the former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz, Captain (retd) Safdar, Hassan Nawaz and Hussain Nawaz in the Avenfield reference.

In his statement, Dogar informed the court how he collected the JIT report and other material from the Supreme Court, recorded statements of the witnesses, gathered evidence.

He also informed the court that the accused were summoned for recording of their statements but they did not appear.

In his statement, Dogar said that Director General (Operations) Zahir Shah, handed over the response from the UK Home Office to him which was received in response to the requests filed through the Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA).

He said that the JIT had written letters to the Central Authority, the UK and NAB continued to pursue the requests after the JIT was dissolved.

Apart from NAB, Dogar said that he collected material from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and also obtained transcripts of the interviews and a copy of speeches delivered by members of the Sharif family on different television channels.

The last prosecution witness in the Avenfield Apartment said that on the basis of the documents acquired it was concluded that Sharif was benamidar (front man) of the London apartments and he had failed to provide the money trail for the property.

The witness further testified that Maryam Nawaz had produced a fake trust deed with regard to the ownership of offshore companies -- Nielson and Nescoll.

He said that the forensic expert Robert M Radley -- who had examined the deed submitted by Maryam -- in his report termed the trust deed fake, saying the document prepared in the Calibri font was signed in February 2006 when the font was not commercially available.

However, Radley had admitted during his cross examination that the font existed in February 2006 and there were several ways of downloading Calibri font before its commercial launch in January 2007.

Earlier, the court granted one-day exemption to Sharif and his daughter as they could not fly from Lahore to Islamabad owing to bad weather. The court would resume hearing on May 3 (today).