Islamabad: A commission probing the memo scandal here Wednesday began recording the testimony of Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz, the key figure in the controversy, through video-conference from London.

Commission secretary Raja Jawad Abbas and counsel of Husain Haqqani, former Pakistani envoy to the US, and Mansor Ijaz, among others, attended the proceedings in London and Pakistan, respectively, Geo TV reported. Ijaz arrived at the Pakistan High Commission in London to testify before the commission via video link.

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A three-member judicial commission headed by Balochistan High Court Chief Justice Qazi Faiz Isa is probing the scandal.

Haqqani`s counsel Zahid Bukhari requested the bench that he wanted to cross-question Ijaz in person. The commission asked him to submit an application for the same.

The commission questioned Ijaz whether he can speak Urdu upon which he replied in negative.

Secretary Abbas authenticated that the person present in the video is Mansoor Ijaz and showed his passport to the commission. Ijaz handed over the evidence to the official.

The commission consented to video-conferencing after Ijaz refused to come to Pakistan fearing for his life. Ijaz claimed to have last year delivered a secret memo to then chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff Admiral Mike Mullen at the behest of Haqqani and the Pakistani government.

The memo said that Zardari feared a military coup after Osama bin Laden was killed May 2 last year at his hideout in Abbottabad by US commandos, triggering a scandal that generated much heat in Pakistan.

IANS