Avenfield properties case: key witness to record statement: court

The Accountability Court hearing corruption references against the Sharif family on Wednesday ruled that the key prosecution witness Wajid Zia will record his statement in the Avenfield properties case and all objections of the defence will be disposed of after completion of his statement.
Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on March 20 had filed a petition before the Accountability Court Judge Muhammad Bashir through his counsel Amjad Pervez regarding inadmissibility of the investigation report prepared by Joint Investigation Team (JIT) and the opinions formulated and inferences drawn by the JIT.
The court in its 14-page order noted that Zia will record his statement in view of material and relevant laws and all objections, if so raised, shall be disposed of after recording evidences. The statement of fact is an issue and relevant facts shall be considered.
The order says that during statement recording process of prosecution witness, the defence counsel used to say it is opinion, hearsay, etc. This objection might be correct but it causes delay in recording a statement. Moreover, no hard and fast rules can be made as sought through application about the admissibility, relevancy, or oral statement of investigation officer to say certain portion is his opinion before recording his entire statement. If the oral statement or mere opinion is based on his subjective thinking, it shall definitely be discarded from evidence; thus, entire statement shall be recorded then objection raised shall be disposed of, it says.
The court noted that in fact there are many exceptions to rule against hearsay. Certain articles of Qanoon-e-Shahadat (law of evidence) can be referred here. "Similarly, an admission made before a police officer is admissible under certain conditions; therefore, a sweeping direction cannot be passed in the present case which complicates one that statement under section 161 CrPC of such person cannot be referred by the witness in his statement. The matter that a portion of a statement of witness is hearsay or he has referred statement under section 161 CrPC be resolved after recording evidences."
It says that "there should be no ambiguity in the mind of the applicant that material collected by the JIT shall not be appraised according to the principle of law of evidence and opinion be acted upon."
The order also says that "the defence counsel further contended that the opinion of witness be regarded as inadmissible in evidence." It is clarified here that the opinion of witness is not binding on the court even if recorded in his statement, it says, adding that appreciation of evidence is the job of the court and the court cannot abdicate its power and jurisdiction. According to the order, it is clearly decided here that prosecutor shall not be allowed questions eliciting about guilt or innocence of the accused.