ISLAMABAD: The prosecution in the Benazir Bhutto murder case informed the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) that US lobbyist Mark Siegel was not available for crossexamination on Monday.

Khawaja Imtiaz Ahmed, the special prosecutor of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in the high-profile murdercase, informed the ATC that the ministry of foreign affairs had been asked to contact Mr Siegel through the Pakistan embassy in the US.

According to the prosecutor, a report regarding the availability of Mr Siegel would be submitted to the ATC on the next date of hearing on October 12.

Talking to Dawn, Mr Ahmed said in case the witness (Mr Siegel) was not cross examined by the defence counsel, his statement already recorded with the ATC would not be of any legal value.

`The statement of a witness can only be used against the accused after the witness is cross examined by the counsel of the accused person,` he explained.

The written statement of Mr Siegel said on that September 25, 2007, Ms Bhuttoalong with her spouse Asif Ali Zardari met Congressman Tom Lantos in Washington where she received a telephonic call from the then president of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf.

In the statement, Mr Siegel claimed that after talking to Gen Musharraf, Ms Bhutto was feeling `very low.

`Ms Bhutto took me aside, I asked what was wrong, she said it was a very bad call. He (Musharraf) was threatening, he was abusive, and shouting. He demanded I shall not return until after the elections.

The statement quoted Ms Bhutto as saying: `He (Musharraf) was threatening me. He said I was breaking the deal. I told him there was no such deal and he knew it.It added that the PPP had sought permission from Gen Musharraf to bring foreign security officials with Ms Bhutto and for cars with tinted glass but both the requests were refused.

Mr Siegel testified that while watching the coverage of Ms Bhutto`s return to Pakistan on television, he noted that people in her surroundings were talking on mobile phones which meant the Musharraf government had not provided her `jammers` despite an earlier commitment.

Another prosecution witness, Inspector Kashif Riaz, also appeared before the ATC on Monday as one of the defence counsel wanted to cross examine him.

The court, however, postponed the crossexamination till October 12 on the request of the counsel.