ISLAMABAD: During the accountability court’s hearing against Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Thursday, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) presented two witnesses—Shahid Aziz of National Investment Trust and Tariq Javed of Al-Baraka Bank—before the court to record their statements.
The NAB has already submitted a list of 28 witnesses with the court.
During an eight-hour-long hearing of the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) corruption reference filed against Ishaq Dar, Justice Mohammad Bashir adjourned the hearing till October 16.
During the hearing, witness Shahid Aziz informed the court that Dar had invested Rs120 million as finance minister in 2015, but he withdrew this money from the trust after the Panama Papers case was initiated in January 2017.
Prosecution’s witness, Tariq Javed, submitted details of Ishaq Dar’s five accounts—belonging to his two companies and spouse: the details of the bank accounts of Dar’s wife and the companies Hajveri Modarba and Hajveri Holdings. Tariq Javed told the court that Ishaq Dar had opened an account in the bank’s Lahore branch in 1991, and added that Dar’s wife, Tabassum Ishaq Dar, is also an account holder in the bank and owns a company named HDS Securities Private Limited.
Dar’s counsel Khawaja Haris cross-examined the witnesses and argued on the legitimacy of the submitted documents. However, the witnesses claimed that all documents submitted in the court were genuine and attested.
Khawaja Haris said electronic statement cannot be taken as primary evidence and asked the court to add his objection in the record; upon which, NAB prosecutor Imran Shafiq argued it was court’s job to decide what is primary evidence, adding that any unverified or missing documents can be corrected or added later.
Earlier in the day, Privatisation Minister Daniyal Aziz said they have objected to the documents provided by the prosecution, saying the documents weren’t proven. Doubting the court proceedings against Dar, Daniyal Aziz said it was surprising that Dar was not included in the list of Panama Leaks list submitted to the court by Jamaat-e-Islami chief Sirajul Haq, adding that no one else, who was part of the list, had been summoned by the court. He said the case against the finance minister was a political but despite that, they appeared before the court. The finance minister was accompanied by Federal Privatisation Minister Daniyal Aziz and State IT Minister Anusha Rehman to the court.
Strict security measures were arranged inside and outside the judicial complex with nearly 200 policemen guarding the complex. Moreover, all routes with the exception of one entry point were sealed off to restrict entry into the area.
Moreover, during the previous hearing pertaining to the case, one of the two prosecution witnesses – Bank Alfalah’s former manager Ishtiaq Ali – recorded his statement in the accountability court in connection with the corruption references that had been filed against Dar.
Ishtiaq Ali testified before the court that while the accused holds an account with Bank Alfalah, his wife Tabassum Dar owns a security company HDS Securities Private Limited.
Dar, nevertheless, maintained that he had opened an account with the bank in 2005, but had shut it a year later.
Dar’s counsel Khawaja Haris, in his arguments, contended that Ali was not a relevant witness as he was neither a scriber nor a custodian of documents produced by him before the court. He also tried to establish that the witness was not even working for the bank at the time, arguing that he was employed in 2005, while the record submitted before the court pertains to 2001 and 2005.
Dar’s lawyer also rejected the documents presented by the NAB terming them to be mere photocopies lacking verification.
Dar was indicted on September 27 by Accountability Court-I Judge Mohammad Bashir in a corruption reference filed by NAB in the light of the Supreme Court judgment on July 28 regarding the Panama Papers case. Dar has been indicted for having possessed assets beyond known sources of income. However, Dar had denied all such charges, vowing to prove his innocence.
