ISLAMABAD: After the former bureaucrat modified his evidence in the cipher case, the lawyer for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf founder Imran Khan told the Islamabad High Court (IHC) that the ex-primier’s principal secretary Azam Khan’s statement could not be trusted. This was reported by The News on Wednesday.
Azam recorded his statement as an accused rather than a witness, the attorney emphasized, therefore it has no legal weight because he was not sworn in.
Salman Safdar, the attorney for the former prime minister, made these comments at the IHC during the appeals hearing that was held in response to his client Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s conviction in the cipher case.
Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hasan Aurangzeb, who make up the IHC’s two-member bench, heard the petitions against the conviction of both PTI politicians who were sentenced in the said case on January 30 earlier this year.
The chief justice of the IHC questioned the legality of a witness’s statement during the hearing, namely whether or not it was cross-examined following its recording before a magistrate and subsequently a court.
In response, Safdar emphasized that Khan, the accused, benefits from the discrepancy in the ex-bureaucrat’s statement that he recorded in front of the investigating officer and the magistrate.
