Zardari’s front man admits 300 acres was ‘Amanat of my friend’

ISLAMABAD: The front man who bought nearly 2,500 kanals (over 300 acres) of Islamabad land, now worth Rs2 billion or more, for President Asif Ali Zardari and his son Bilawal in mid-90s, has finally come forward to make some candid confessions, on the record, admitting that the land was an “amanat” (trust) of Mr Zardari and in 2004-05 when he was almost dying of sickness, he had asked Mr Zardari “to get this land off my name.”

The six-foot tall, healthy looking, pony-tailed Mohammad Nasir Khan, sat down with The News team in a five-star hotel in Karachi a fortnight back to discuss the entire land episode and spoke frankly, mostly off the record, but allowed some portions of his interview to be printed. He did not use Mr Zardari’s name in his talk but always referred to him as “my friend”. But several times when he was asked whether by “my friend” he meant President Zardari, his answer was always ‘yes’.

It was clear from his long conversation that he knew little about the manner in which the land was transferred to another friend of Mr Zardari, Faisal Sakhi Butt, for just Rs62 million. But Nasir Khan owned up everything that had been done in the courts, including a case filed by Faisal Butt against him and later transfer of the court decree in the name of Park Lane Estates (Pvt) Ltd, owned by Mr Zardari and his son.

What emerged clearly after talking to Nasir Khan was that the court proceedings invoked in the controversial transfer of 2,460 kanals of Islamabad land early this year were just a cover up to give legal shape to what was already settled and sealed between the concerned parties.

The interview with Nasir Khan was possible after a wild goose chase for him by the entire investigation team of The News, including his contacts and addresses in the United States and digging out his CNIC record from Nadra because there were strong rumours that he had died several years ago.

In the interview Nasir Khan himself confirmed that even a police team arrived at his house in Karachi recently to check whether he was alive or dead. Who and why the police team was sent could not been explained.

Background interactions, documentary evidence and the interview with the most important player of this deal make the case far more suspicious than what it was considered earlier, as the middle link, Faisal Sakhi Butt, has mysteriously gone underground and is totally inaccessible to the media, refusing to even show his face for a picture from a zoom lens.

Butt, who had bought the land from Nasir Khan using the legal process to transfer it to Mr Zardari, was brought in the picture after Nasir Khan had sent the secret message to Mr Zardari, who had probably left Pakistan by then. Interestingly neither any evidence was produced in the court of any legally acknowledged transaction in this sale-purchase deal nor any other source including the seller, Nasir Khan, could show anything in this regard.

When Nasir Khan was asked repeatedly in the interview how the money had been transferred and through which account, he sought refuge behind the argument that all financial matters were “private and confidential” and could not be discussed.

Nasir Khan made some revealing disclosures and his dates and time line for several developments in the deal make the entire transaction more than shady.

What makes Faisal Sakhi Butt a totally irrelevant actor in this whole case was the admission of Nasir Khan that he had sold the land in 2003 and had in 2004-2005 requested his friend (Asif Ali Zardari) to “get it (the land) off my name.”

Mr Khan said that it was only after this demand that the land should be transferred from his name, that the court procedure was pursued. “Whatever happened in court was with my consent,” he said giving blanket approval of the legal shuffling that was done, but his dates and time left many questions unanswered.

Faisal Sakhi Butt, it was thus established, had knocked the door of the courts only to ensure the smooth transfer of land from Nasir Khan to President Zardari’s company called M/s Park Lane Estates (Pvt) Ltd.

The court papers show that the case, filed by Butt, was never contested by Nasir Khan, who admitted to The News that all that had happened after 2003 was with his consent.

But mystery was added when he was asked about the case, names of lawyers etc and he knew no one. He neither knew the name of the counsel, who represented him in the Islamabad courts in this case, nor did he remember the date and even month of the sale agreement.

Nasir Khan also could not recall the price for which he sold the land but repeatedly said that whatever was reflected in the “sale agreement” as produced before the court was correct.

When further probed as to how much money did he get from Mr Zardari in 2003 for this land, he declined to share details, arguing that payment issues were personal issues and could not be disclosed in public.

Nasir Khan met with a team of The News in a restaurant of a leading Karachi hotel, where Mr Khan was invited for the meeting. Humble but smart Khan was extremely cautious about the words he chose and was too choosy and careful as to where would he be quoted on the record. His foremost concern was not to say anything that might hurt ‘his friend’.

He revealed that a number of Karachi policemen visited his home recently to inquire if he is dead. Why and who sent them he did not disclose.

Khan insisted that the land was his and not of Mr Asif Ali Zardari when he bought it in mid 90s. Around 2003, he said, he was badly in need of money so he contacted his friend (Mr Zardari), who, he recalled, had promised him at the time of the purchase of the land that he (AZ) would pay or get some one pay double the amount for the land whenever he would need the money.

In return, he said that some payment was made to him. “How did he (Mr Zardari) arrange that, I don’t know,” Khan said perhaps realising that Mr Zardari was in jail in the year 2003.

“And then when I got ill in 2004-05 and was close to death, I sent him (Mr Zardari) a message to get it (the land) off my name,” he said, adding that this was how the court process started. “Whatever happened in the court was with my consent,” he admitted and owned up every document produced before the courts.

However, he knew nothing about what was written in the sale agreement or in the court papers. The sale agreement as was produced before the Islamabad court, and signed by Nasir Khan and Faisal Sakhi Butt, in the very beginning says that it was made on January 18, 2007. Mr Khan, however, did not remember the date or the month.

When pressed to recall, he said that it was perhaps signed a week or so before the murder of Benazir Bhutto. The former prime minister was assassinated on Dec 27, 2007. He was thus off the mark by about a year.

When asked about the amount for which the land was sold and as mentioned in the agreement, he said that he did not remember what amount did he receive but hurriedly added, “The amount is mentioned in the agreement.” He said, “Whatever is in the agreement is correct.”

Every page of the three-page agreement has the signatures of both Khan and Butt. The agreement is also annexed with a “Receipt” that is signed by Nasir Khan on January 18, 2007 and confirms the receipt of a sum of US $15,000 from Faisal Butt as “advance payment in connection with the sale of 2460 kanals and 17 marlas of land at Sangjani, Islamabad for a total sale consideration of Rs62,000,000 (Rs62 m) only.”

There is no mention if the said payment was made through bank. In US such transactions in cash are not permitted. Nasir Khan could land in serious trouble if he did not disclose the transaction in his US tax returns or other financial papers.

When asked about this Nasir Khan said that he would not discuss and disclose such financial issues, as they were personal matters.

Asked to tell the name of the counsel that he had hired to represent him in the Islamabad courts in the civil suit that Faisal Butt had filed against him, he said that he did not remember his name.

Nasir Khan had neither appeared in person before the civil court nor before the Islamabad High Court, which issued the decree initially in favour of Faisal Sakhi Butt and subsequently in favour of Park Lane Estates (Pvt) Ltd.

In another mysterious twist Nasir Khan’s counsel, who had appeared on his behalf in the courts, also never met his ‘client’ nor does he remember to have ever spoken to him either before the initiation of the case, during its proceedings or after its conclusion.

Senior advocate of Supreme Court, Bashir Kiyani, represented Muhammad Nasir Khan in the courts. When approached by The News, Bashir Kiyani said that he neither knew nor ever met Muhammad Nasir Khan. “Some of my colleagues, whose name I will not mention, referred this case to me and gave a Wakalat Nama of Muhammad Nasir Khan,” Kiyani revealed, adding, “I don’t remember if I have ever spoken to him.”

When Kiyani was asked that in the court documents his (Kiyani’s) address was given as “service address” of Muhammad Nasir Khan so he should disclose who had given him Wakalat Nama of Nasir Khan, Kiyani replied that he would not disclose the identity of that person.

There was no mention in the court papers of the National Identity Card number (NIC), National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistanis number (NICOP), Pakistan Origin Card number (POC) or any of the US Social Security Number or identity number of Mr Khan.

Bashir Kiyani, however, said: “You can write it as my legal opinion that none of these identifications are required for transfer of land from one person to another person.”

In these situations where all the facts are contradictory, full of doubts and questionable, Faisal Sakhi Butt is the key missing link and he has shut himself up, not making himself available to the media.

Despite repeated requests made to him through his personal secretary, Mr Butt is not available for his views. Not only that, in the past repeated efforts were made to get his comments and he was again contacted after The News’ interaction with Nasir Khan but to no avail.

In 1997-98, the then Sharif government had alleged that the same land belonged to Mr Zardari, who had forcibly bought it from the locals during Benazir Bhutto’s second tenure but had transferred it in the name of what was said to be his front man, Nasir Khan.

In 1997 the Ehtesab Bureau headed by Mian Saifur Rehman had initiated a case against Mr Zardari while the FIA had arrested some persons in the case. Media reports in 1997 had then stated that Zardari had forcibly acquired 2,500 kanals of land, uprooting 300 families, to set up a polo ground and a riding pavilion in Sangjani, 25 minutes from main Islamabad. Now Mohammad Nasir Khan has confirmed that the reference filed by Mian Saifur Rehman was genuine.

Source: thenews.com.pk/