ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Thursday filed a petition in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) seeking permission to sell absconding former finance minister Ishaq Dar’s assets in Pakistan.
Filed by NAB’s special prosecutor Imran Shafiq, the petition declares that Dar is wanted by the court and has been declared absconder by both the court and NAB.
On July 21, the Interior Ministry had approved the issuance of red warrants against Ishaq Dar.
The red warrant is an international notice sent to the International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol) seeking the arrest and extradition of an individual.
The sanction came following the recommendation of NAB.
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had also written a letter to Interpol for the detention of Ishaq Dar while the case has also been forwarded to them after the approval of the interior secretary. FIA requested the assistance of Interpol in Dar’s arrest from London.
In its reference against the former finance minister, NAB had 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 declared him a proclaimed offender over his perpetual absence from the trial proceedings and attached his movable and immovable properties.
Dar, a former senator, has been in London since October last year on account of his medical treatment. Moreover, a reference against the former finance minister was filed by the NAB in light of the Supreme Court’s July 28 verdict in the Panama Papers case.
Dar had earlier been declared a proclaimed offender by the accountability court due to his continuous absence from the proceedings.
In November 2017, then-prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi had accepted Dar’s request to be relieved of his duties as the finance minister.
