ISLAMABAD: The accountability court in Islamabad hearing the assets reference case against former finance minister Senator Ishaq Dar directed former head of the Panama case Joint Investigation Team (JIT), Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Additional Director Wajid Zia to appear before the court.
Wajid Zia, who was summoned by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) as a prosecution witness, did not appear in the court despite being directed to by the NAB.
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.
During the hearing, the NAB pleaded the judge to issue a formal summons to Zia, to which the judge responded that he is the prosecution witness and should thus appear in court.
The judge observed that he will issue a summons if Zia fails to appear at the next hearing.
As the hearing began, Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) Joint Registrar Sidra Mansur submitted in court documents related to two of Dar’s companies.
Moreover, SECP Deputy Registrar Salman Saeed also submitted details of Dar’s companies.
Earlier, Saeed had requested Accountability Court-I Judge Mohammad Bashir for some time to present the records, saying the documents were on their way from Karachi. The court then briefly adjourned the hearing.
‘COURT COMPUTERS ON UPS’:
Later, NAB requested for more time as Saeed’s records were delayed, to which the judge responded that the prosecution better hurry up as owing to the electricity load-shedding, the court computer is running on a UPS and the battery may die soon.
The case was then adjourned until February 8, when the court expects to record the statements of Zia and NAB investigation officer Nadir Abbas.
The two are the last witnesses mentioned by the prosecution.
During Tuesday’s hearing, SECP official Sidra Mansur recorded her statement.
NAB also summoned SECP Deputy Registrar Salman Saeed to record his statement.
At an earlier hearing, Inland Revenue Commissioner Ishtiaq Ahmed had 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 SECP officials Sidrah Mansoor, Salman Saeed had 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.
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.
