Signature forgery claim evaporates in Aga Khan’s copyright case
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Aga Khan vs Tajdin and Jiwa
By Salim Jiwa
VANCOUVER – A claim by two defendants that the Aga Khan’s signature was forged and that he was not the initiator of a copyright lawsuit has been reduced to a myth.
A handwriting expert conceded under intense cross examination that a signature on a letter from the Aga Khan he was asked to analyze was written by the same person who signed an affidavit in Boston in front of a notary public and a famous lawyer.
The expert, Graham Ospreay, also conceded that he had written his report based on dissimilarities he found and not the similarities he noted in two signatures he was asked to examine.
The Aga Khan had signed an affirmation in Boston in front of a lawyer and a notary public stating that it was he who had written to two defendants to stop printing and distributing his works and that he had initiated a lawsuit filed in Canadian federal court.
Ospreay’s admission effectively ends the charade that someone had forged two letters and the Boston affidavit as well.
A transcript of the cross examination of expert Graham Ospreay by Brian Gray, the Aga Khan’s lawyer, shows the expert was far from complete in his written report and had left out important information that would have led to a conclusion there was no disparity between a signature on a letter written by the Aga Khan and the Boston affidavit.
The cross examination was conducted as a prelude to motions for summary judgement in the case. While the two defendants had put up the transcripts of the other cross examinations on their website, they failed to publish Ospreay’s testimony which would have cast a grave doubt on their claims of a forgery.
Nagib Tajdin and Alnaz Jiwa, two self-styled promoters of Ismaili literature, are being sued by the Aga Khan for violating his copyright in a 1500-page book that contains the written and spoken instruction he has given to his community.
In return, the two men have claimed that a usurper had forged the Aga Khan’s signature and filed a lawsuit without the consent of the Ismaili Muslim spiritual leader.
Ospreay was retained by three people who he named as Tajdin, Jiwa and a third man he identified in his testimony as Ali Dhalla.
Ospreay was paid a retainer of $1,600 to compare signatures but stated he was given two original documents said to contain the Aga Khan’s signatures and the rest of the documents were photocopies.
Ospreay faltered several times during his cross examination carried out by the Aga Khan’s lawyer. He also stated he was not told the Aga Khan had suffered an injury to his right hand during a 2008 accident, a fact that could create discrepancies in signatures.
Gray’s questioning was intense about the signature expert’s work and on several occasions Gray was able to ridicule the expert’s method and the manner in which he wrote out his report with missing information about similarities in signatures he studied.
Ospreay said he checked out a signature on a January 24 letter written by the Aga Khan to defendant Tajdin in which the spiritual leader had asked him to stop printing and distributing his works. He also checked a signature on a federal court affirmation signed by the Aga Khan in front of two people – the lawyer and a notary.
Ospreay had reported that his examination supported the suggestion that Prince Karim Aga Khan “probably” did not sign the federal court affirmation.
Asked by Gray if he wrote down what he found to be important to come to his conclusion, Ospreay responded: “The primary characteristics that I found …I found a lot of similarities..but the primary differences I saw, yes.”
Ospreay also admitted that he failed to include in his report his attempt to have another expert give him an opinion about his own conclusion because the expert was not able to offer an opinion.
Asked by Gray if it was relevant to mention that he had consulted another expert who could not come to a conclusion about Ospreay’s thoughts, the expert stated: “I did not think so at the time.”
Ospreay, who said he is not a member of any forensic science organization in Canada or anywhere else, added that he could not produce the originals of the Aga Khan’s letters to Tajdin. At the same time, Jiwa, acting as a lawyer and defendant, refused to produce the two original sample signatures that he had offered Ospreay for comparison – one signature being older than a decade.
Jiwa said he would not produce the documents bearing the sample signatures although Gray demanded to see them several times. Ospreay admitted at the same time that he had no knowledge about the authenticity of documents given to him by the defendants and whether they contained the actual signatures of the Aga Khan – documents that Jiwa would not produce.
The most destructive part of the expert’s conclusion to the claim by Jiwa and Tajdin that the letters were all forgeries was a startling admission by the expert: That the similarities and the dissimilarities he found between a letter written to Tajdin and the affirmation sworn by the Aga Khan in front of a lawyer and a notary were identical.
Gray: Sorry, can I stop you right there? What do you mean by “affirmation similar to letter?”
Ospreay: That I…I did a comparison between the..both questioned signatures and I found that the dissimilarities that I was finding were found in both of the questioned signatures.
Gray: Okay. So did you form an opinion as to whether both questioned signatures were written by the same person?
Ospreay: I would..I assumed that, yes.
Gray: You assumed that they were?
Ospreay: That is correct.
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TranscriptGrahamOspreay
new documents Aga Khan Lawsuit
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shiraz.virani
- Posts: 1256
- Joined: Thu May 28, 2009 2:52 pm
I dont understand why in the world is the aga khan not coming forward and say " JIWA/NAGIB " .....Im the one who signed those doc's and i want you to stop.......the same question echoed in the court house where JIWA repeated the same question again and again
" IF IMAM SAYS STOP...WE WILL STOP !!! "
IF IMAM CANNOT FLY.....WHY NOT HAVE VIDEO CONFERENCE WITH THE AGA KHAN....THAT SHALL SAVE TIME AND MONEY !!!!!
Sleep I would suggest you to wake up and smell the coffee, bcoz both JIWA AND NAGIB bhai are the only man that i know who have balls to stand against super corrupt officials that are working for AGA KHAN.
I dont think sachedina would step down nor will be told to because all the jamati funds [non taxable] is managed by him....so if aga khan kicks him out of the office....he'll be MEHERALI 2 in the making and agakhan would not like that !
Dunno about others but Im with NAGIB and JIWA
yaa ali madad
" IF IMAM SAYS STOP...WE WILL STOP !!! "
IF IMAM CANNOT FLY.....WHY NOT HAVE VIDEO CONFERENCE WITH THE AGA KHAN....THAT SHALL SAVE TIME AND MONEY !!!!!
Sleep I would suggest you to wake up and smell the coffee, bcoz both JIWA AND NAGIB bhai are the only man that i know who have balls to stand against super corrupt officials that are working for AGA KHAN.
I dont think sachedina would step down nor will be told to because all the jamati funds [non taxable] is managed by him....so if aga khan kicks him out of the office....he'll be MEHERALI 2 in the making and agakhan would not like that !
Dunno about others but Im with NAGIB and JIWA
yaa ali madad
The question of Imam not able to fly does not arise as he went to Toronto in May and in any case the defendants said they were willing to go to Paris or any other place if asked by the Imam.
Imam has not intervened because he has not initiated this case.
You are right Sleep is out of touch with reality, he is completely brainwashed by Vancouverite's propaganda. He will wake up surprised only when the case will be dismissed and the Judge will say that Imam never initiated this lawsuit.
Imam has not intervened because he has not initiated this case.
You are right Sleep is out of touch with reality, he is completely brainwashed by Vancouverite's propaganda. He will wake up surprised only when the case will be dismissed and the Judge will say that Imam never initiated this lawsuit.