Pakistani-American tycoon and the key person in the "memogate" scandal, Mansoor Ijaz, said that President Asif Ali Zardari was aware of the Abbottabad operation that led to the killing of Osama Bin Laden by US Special Forces in 2011, the media reported on Friday.

Ijaz told this to the Judicial Commission probing the case via video link from the Pakistan High Commission in London.

Ijaz said that F-16 planes were ready to counter any operation but President Zardari advised Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) Ashfaq Pervez Kayaninot to retaliate.

He also told the commission that there was a real threat of a military coup in Pakistan following the US operation in Abbottabad.

Ijaz told the commission that he decided to forward the memo to General James Jones after that.

Ijaz agreed to provide to the court all details about meetings between General Kayani and President Zardari on May 2, 2011, after the Abbottabad raid.

The commission headed by Balochistan High Court Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, resumed hearing of the case at the Islamabad High Court on Friday.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2012