The lawyer for controversial Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz, the chief witness in a secret memo scandal, has said that his client will not travel to Pakistan to testify and that his statement should therefore be recorded in either London or Zurich.
Lawyer Akram Sheikh said that Mr Ijaz is willing to videotape his testimony and submit it to Pakistan’s Supreme Court commission investigating the scandal.
Mr Ijaz has accused the Pakistani government of orchestrating a memo, which he delivered to the US last year, asking Washington for help in stopping a supposed military coup in the wake of the American raid that killed Osama bin Laden. The Pakistani government has denied any involvement.
Mr Ijaz was scheduled to make an appearance before a Supreme Court-appointed commission that is probing the memo scandal on January 24. He was also summoned by the Parliamentary Commission on National Security (PCNS) on January 26.
The controversial allegations made by Mr Ijaz reach all the way up to President Asif Zardari, and could result in the bringing of treason charges against the country’s former ambassador to Washington, Husain Haqqani or even the president himself.
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