Letters of Qatari prince fictional, Zia tells court

Accountability court judge adjourns hearing till Monday, orders cross-examination of JIT head’s statement

ISLAMABAD: An accountability court was informed by Panamagate Joint Investigation Team (JIT) head Wajid Zia on Thursday that investigation into the Flagship Investment reference revealed that the letters of the Qatari Prince Hamad bin Jassem bin Jaber Al-Thani were “fictional”.

Recording his statement, Zia said, “The JIT made all-out efforts to record the statement of the prince but he used delaying tactics.”

The JIT head further said, “In the beginning, the prince refused to record his statement, but later asked for a guarantee that he will not be presented in any Pakistani court.”



Objecting to this, former premier Nawaz Sharif’s counsel Khawaja Haris said, “Zia’s personal opinion is not acceptable testimony.”

The JIT head said that Hassan Nawaz failed to explain the means through which the Flagship Investment and other companies were established. Hassan kept providing money to these companies in the shape of loans from unknown sources.

“The JIT reviewed the financial statements of the companies created under the banner of the Flagship Investment. It compiled two charts of loans, profits, losses and transactions of these companies. Transactions showed exchange of funds and loans between companies of Hassan and two companies outside Britain,” he said in his statement.



The judge of the accountability court observed that Hassan kept taking loans and then started giving.

Zia said, “Hassan gave a loan of $4.2 million to these companies between 2001 and 2004. He made an overall investment of 3.2 million pounds in the Flagship Investment. It has been concluded that the companies established under the Flagship Investment suffered a loss of 10 million pounds from 2001 to 2008. The details of ownership and mortgaged properties are present in Volume VII of the JIT report.”

After hearing the arguments of the two sides, the accountability court judge adjourned the hearing till Monday and ordered Zia to be present on the next hearing for examination.