Dar’s wealth surged exponentially in 16 years, NAB witness tells court

ISLAMABAD: A National Accountability Bureau (NAB) witness on Monday— while recording his statement in the assets reference case against former finance minister Ishaq Dar— told the accountability court that Dar’s wealth grew exponentially between 1993-2008.

Five witnesses recorded their statements, as the accountability court resumed its proceedings in the assets reference case against Dar.

Inland Revenue Commissioner Ishtiaq Ahmed said that from Rs9.1 million declared assets in 1993, the minister’s wealth grew to Rs830m in 2009; adding that according to Dar’s tax returns, the paid taxes increased from Rs0.7m in 1993 to Rs40m in 2009.

NAB officials Shakeel Anjum Nagra, Iqbal Hasan and Umer Daraz Gondal; and Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan officials Sidrah Mansoor, Salman Saeed also recorded their statements as witnesses before the court.

The accountability court judge gave the NAB prosecutor two days to present as many witnesses in court as he was able to.

The case was adjourned until January 30.

At the last hearing, a total of six NAB witnesses had recorded their statements before Accountability Court-I Judge Mohammad Bashir.

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

He departed for London in October last year for medical treatment, after which he did not attend any court proceedings.

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.