NAB lacks jurisdiction over Calibri trust deed, IHC holds.

ISLAMABAD -- The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday observed that the issue related to the alleged forged trust deed of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Maryam Nawaz was beyond the jurisdiction of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

A division bench, comprising Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, resumed hearing on appeals filed by Ms Nawaz and her spouse retired Captain Mohammad Safdar against their conviction in the Avenfield Apartments reference.

Defence counsel Amjad Pervaiz told the court that NAB had initially described Ms Nawaz as a beneficial owner of the Avenfield Apartments.

However, in the supplementary reference the bureau claimed that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was the actual owner of the property.

According to him, NAB had drawn inference that Ms Nawaz was the beneficial owner of the property which the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) claimed was purchased around 1993-1996 because of the trust deed executed in February 2006.

In response to the query of Justice Kayani for preparation of the trust deed, Advocate Pervaiz explained that the deed was executed since Hussain Nawaz had two wives and being the elder sister Ms Nawaz would take care of the property in case of any eventuality.

The counsel said NAB accused Ms Nawaz of making a forged trust deed to mislead the investigation.

He, however, argued that NAB did not probe key witnesses Jeremy Freeman of Freeman Box, a solicitor that executed the trust deed, and Waqar Ahmed, who was also a signatory of the document.

Advocate Pervaiz said JIT head Wajid Zia had hired a firm of his cousin - M/s Quest - for collection of evidence and recording of testimony of the witnesses abroad.

The firm recorded the statement of a so-called expert, Robert Radely, to prove the document fake but did not contact Freeman who had confirmed genuineness of the trust deed.

He argued that Mr Radely recorded statement before the accountability court while reading notes provided to him by the prosecution.

According to the counsel, during the cross-examination Mr Radely had confirmed that he was not a computer geek and also admitted that the Calibri font existed much before the trust deed was prepared.

It may be mentioned that the JIT had declared the trust deed fake since forensic expert Radely in his report pointed out that the Calibri font in which the trust deed was prepared was not commercially available in February 2006.

The defence counsel while quoting...