Assets beyond income case: Dar’s wanted accused status maintained

ISLAMABAD (92 News) – An accountability court on Wednesday maintained the status of former finance minister Ishaq dar as ‘wanted accused’ in assets beyond income corruption reference. Accountability judge Muhammad Bashir heard the reference of assets beyond income against Ishaq Dar. During the hearing, the former minister was not appeared before court. However, the court continued his status as wanted accused in corruption reference. Other three accused appeared before court, witness Muhammad Aftab presented bank record on the court orders. Meanwhile, the court decided to make a part of court record as per given details. In the hearing, the court said another hearing would be conducted into acquittal of Saeed Ahmed. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) objected to acquittal of Ahmed, prompting court to fix another hearing on February 6. Ahmed’s counsel said the prosecutor produced 33 witnesses but none of them testified against his client. In the verdict, the court had given authority of property bid to the provincial government on the NAB’s petition. The verdict stated that to the Punjab government had been given authority for withdrawing money from all bank accounts of Dar and taking possession of all vehicles. Earlier, the NAB seized the bank accounts and properties of former finance minister Ishaq Dar as an accountability court initiated proceedings against him in a corruption reference.

Will visit UK to discuss for extradition of Ishaq Dar: Shahzad Akbar

On last year of Oct 14, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Accountability Shahzad Akbar said that Pakistan has already signed a treaty with Britain which will help speed up the investigations into different high profile asset cases. He said he is also visiting Britain next week where he will meet with his counterpart of national crime agency and also hold discussions on the pending requests for extradition including that of former Finance Minister Ishaq Dar. On Sept 8, NAB had filed a reference against Dar, and three separate references against ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his children. Directions to file the references came from the Supreme Court in its July 28 verdict, on the basis of an investigation report prepared by a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) consisting of officials of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Inter-Services Intelligence, Military Intelligence, NAB, Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan and the SBP. On Aug 9, the Ministry of Interior placed former finance minister Ishaq Dar in the blacklist and blocked his passport. According to the NAB, Ishaq Dar’s name was placed in the blacklist on the request of the NAB and his passport was also blocked. The former finance minister was declared absconder in case pertaining to assets beyond income means and efforts were underway to bring him back to Pakistan through Interpol.