Key prosecution witness and head of Joint Investigation Team (JIT) that probed the Panama Papers case, Wajid Zia Thursday, testified before the Accountability Court that the agreement between Tariq Shafi and Muhammad Abdullah Kayed Ahli, dated April 14, 1980, regarding share sale of 25 percent of Ahli Steel Mill was a fake and 'falsified' document.
Zia while recording his statement before the Accountability Court Judge Muhammad Bashir in Avenfield properties reference said that agreement between Shafi and Ahli submitted with an application was fake as per the MLA response from the UAE authorities after a search for record in the Dubai court showed the purported agreement of April 14, 1980 of share sale of 25 percent of Ahli Steel Mill does not exist and also that there was no transaction of worth AED12 million as sale proceeds of 25 percent shares of Ahli Steel.
The witness said that as per the MLA, no record could be found which indicates that notarization of this document was done by the notary public of Dubai on May 3, 2016. This showed that the said agreement of April 14, 1980 submitted with an application was a fake and 'falsified' document. Defence counsel Amjad Pervez said that this is inadmissible inference and opinion.
The witness said that the agreement of April 14, 1980 was submitted with a concise statement which explained that AED12 million were made available as a result of this agreement to Tariq Shafi and subsequently handed over to the Qatari prince Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani. He said this investment as per the concise statement provided for the funding of not only Avenfield apartments through a settlement of 2006 as well as the settlement of loan of Al Toufique Investment fund of $8 million.
He said that according to the documents, the LC was for the transport of scrape machinery of Ahli Steel Mill from Dubai to Saudi Arabia. The response of MLA from the UAE also showed that according to their record, there was no such transportation. The JIT concluded that the respondent has misled the court through this LC.
He said the concise statement with an application has also contended that the amount of AED12 million was collected from Ahli in cash and deposited to Bin Jasim by Tariq Shafi. No document or receipt to support this claim was ever provided to the JTI.
The witness said that as per the agreement of 1978, the Gulf Steel Mill had liabilities of worth AED36 million of which AED12 million approximately had been paid as the full sale proceeds of 75 percent shares according to the agreement.
He further said that the liabilities of AED14 million were the responsibly of Tariq Shafi who was working on behalf of the Mian Muhammad Sharif, according to the concise statement submitted with the application. The Supreme Court had specifically asked questions about liabilities, he said while recording his statement.
Zia said that no documents were produced by Tariq Shafi or any other accused including Nawaz Sharif, Hussain Nawaz, Hassan Nawaz and Maryam Safdar about how these liabilities were cleared.
He said the UAE authorities through their response to the application confirmed that Tariq Shafi was sentenced for defaulting on a bank loan of now defunct BCCI. Tariq Shafi obtained this loan from BCCI to which he has owed about AED6 million in the 1978 agreement of 75 percent share of settlement of Ahli Steel Mill.
This clearly shows that the liabilities were cleared as further loan is never provided to someone who has not cleared previous loan and liabilities. The defense counsel raised objections during the statement of the witness at different points. The recording of Zia's statement could not be completed and the court adjourned hearing till March 27.