- Summons five more witnesses on Dec 18
ISLAMABAD: The accountability court, hearing former finance minister Ishaq Dar’s corruption case, on Thursday directed the investigation officer to seize the properties and assets of his guarantor if he fails to submit the surety bonds, which stand forfeited due to Dar’s constant absences.
In the previous hearing of the case, the court had issued a final warning to the guarantor, Ali Ahmed Qudoosi, to produce Dar before the court or surety bonds worth Rs5 million would be forfeited.
Acting out on its warning, the accountability court ordered Qudoosi to appear before it at 12:30pm (Thursday) and submit the Rs5 million surety bonds. After Qudoosi failed to appear, the court subsequently ordered the IO to gather the details of the assets of the guarantor.
Accountability Judge Mohammad Bashir was hearing the reference regarding assets beyond known means of income, filed against Dar, by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Supreme Court orders.
Over the course of the hearing, the accountability court was presented with details of the accused’s bank accounts. Following the completion of the statements, the hearing of the case was adjourned until December 18.
Masood Ghani and Abdul Rehman Gondal (managers of private banks) recorded their statements before the accountability court Judge Muhammad Bashir. After revising their statements, they were allowed to leave the court following which Azeem Khan, Manager Operations of a private bank and witness of the prosecution, recorded his statement. Meanwhile, another witness Faisal Shehzad, could not be in the accountability court due to his sister’s wedding.
Abdul Rehman Gondal presented Dar’s record of income from 2005 to 2017.
Meanwhile, details of the former finance minister’s and his family’s three bank accounts and Hajveri Holdings account were also presented before the court.
“NAB had asked to provide Ishaq Dar’s account details in August. His first account remained operational from October 2001 to October 2012. His second account remained operational from August 2012 to December 2016 while his third account remained operational between January 2017 and August 2017,” said Azeem Khan in his statement.
Khan presented computer-generated details of all accounts held by the accused.
The prosecution requested the accountability court to summon nine more witnesses in the next hearing which would be held on December 18. However, the court issued summons to five witnesses for the appearance at the next hearing.
Those summoned at the next hearing include: Cabinet Division Deputy Secretary Wasif Hussain, Commerce Deputy Director Qamar Zaman, former National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) director Qaboos Aziz, National Assembly Director Sherdil Khan and Faisal Shahzad, who belongs to a private bank.
The NAB’s prosecution team has submitted a list of 28 people as witnesses in the case, and have up till now recorded statements of as many as five witnesses in the case.
On Monday, The court had declared Dar a proclaimed offender for his continued absence from proceedings in the case.
On November 23, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi accepted Dar’s request to be relieved of his duties as the finance minister.
Dar was relieved of his three roles, including his portfolio in the finance ministry, and was informed of the decision.
On July 28, a five-member Supreme Court bench had ordered NAB to file three references against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and one against Dar, on petitions filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Imran Khan, Jamaat-e-Islami’s Sirajul Haq and Awami Muslim League’s Sheikh Rashid Ahmed.
In its reference against the finance minister, NAB alleged that “the accused has acquired assets and pecuniary interests/resources in his own name and/or in the name of his dependants of an approximate amount of Rs831.678 million (approx)”.
The reference alleged that the assets were “disproportionate to his known sources of income for which he could not reasonably account for”.
The government has since withdrawn the portfolio of finance minister from Ishaq Dar.
The noose seems to have been tightened around the former finance minister since NAB decided to reopen the Rs1.2 billion Hudaibiya Paper Mills reference against him