Court orders partial restoration of Hajveri Trust accounts on Ishaq Dar’s request

ISLAMABAD: An accountability court in Islamabad on Wednesday ordered partial restoration of the accounts of the Hajveri Trust, a charitable organisation founded by former finance minister Ishaq Dar, whose accounts were seized last year as the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) initiated proceedings against him in a corruption reference.

Accountability Court-I Judge Mohammad Bashir had earlier on Wednesday reserved the decision on former finance minister Senator Ishaq Dar’s plea to reopen some of his charity organisation’s frozen bank accounts.

Dar, a close aide of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif, is accused of possessing assets disproportionate to his declared sources of income. A reference against him was filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in light of the Supreme Court’s July 28 verdict in the Panama Papers case.

Dar, following his indictment, has been a no-show in the proceedings after he departed for London in October last year seeking medical treatment.

Qazi Misbaul Hasan represented Dar in Wednesday’s proceedings.

During the hearing, NAB prosecutor Imran Shafiq said that while it was true that the Hajveri Trust supported orphans, there was a record of “suspicious” transactions in the organisation’s accounts.

Qazi Misbahul Hasan, however, insisted that it was “impossible” that the organisation misused its funds.

Hasan told the court that the organisation did not only support orphans, it was also involved in other welfare projects. He also argued that NAB had not filed any reference regarding the Hajveri Trust.

He said that his client had submitted audit reports of the trust’s accounts over the past three years and left it up to the court to take a decision.

NAB’s prosecutor suggested that the Trust provide an estimate of its expenses and only be allowed to draw a limited amount of money from the accounts.

Judge Mohammad Bashir, who heard the case, observed that it was difficult to set a limit on withdrawals since expenses could vary.

Subsequently, the judge decided that the Trust could withdraw funds from its accounts for welfare purposes.

The hearing was adjourned until January 31.

On January 10, the former federal minister, who is currently in London seeking medical treatment, moved the application through his lawyer in the accountability court.

In the application, Dar contended that the trust runs an orphanage, where 93 orphans reside. It bears the expenses of their boarding, lodging, health and education, he added.

Dar’s lawyer had told the judge that if the accounts of the trust were not unfrozen, it would have to be shut, risking the children’s future.

He had requested the court to issue directives for the authorities concerned to unfreeze the trust’s accounts.

NAB REFERENCE:

In its reference against the former 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 dependents 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 court has declared him a proclaimed offender over his perpetual absence from the trial proceedings and attached his movable and immovable properties.

In November 2017, the government withdrew the portfolio of finance minister of Dar.