ISLAMABAD: An accountability court hearing the Avenfield properties reference was informed on Thursday that deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s salary at his son Hassan Nawaz’s company, Capital FZ, was more than the salary declared on the employment contract.
During cross-examination, head of the joint investigation team (JIT) probing the Sharif family on the top court’s order and prosecution witness Wajid Zia informed the court that he is unaware of who made changes to Nawaz’s contract of the Capital FZE. He said the actual salary of Nawaz was AED 100,000 but was shown as AED 10,000 in the company’s employment contract.
Haris asked Zia whether the JIT head knew who had changed the former prime minister’s income in the company documents. The prosecution witness expressed his unawareness, saying the employment contract was not prepared in front of him. He, however, claimed that the document was thoroughly examined by the investigation team.
The defence counsel then asked whether it was included in the JIT report that two members of the team had travelled to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to obtain documents for Capital FZ, to which Zia replied that it was included. “In volume one, on the seventh page this information has been included,” he confirmed, adding that statement of the individual who stamped and verified the company documents was not recorded.
Zia informed the court that they obtained Capital FZE employee records from Jabal Ali Free Zone Authority. When Kh Haris commented that there is no mention of Nawaz ever having received salary from the company in the record, Zia asserted that though his name is not mentioned, the documents are related to the former premier. The court asked for a magnifying glass to examine the flowchart of funds involved in bank transactions of the Sharif family presented by Zia.
The hearing was then adjourned until Friday (today) morning.
Published in Daily Times, April 6th 2018.
