ISLAMABAD: An accountability court on Tuesday reserved its verdict on a plea of National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) President Saeed Ahmed wherein he sought acquittal in former finance minister Ishaq Dar’s illegal assets reference in which he is amongst the accused.
Accountability Judge Muhammad Bashir reserved the verdict till Wednesday after hearing arguments from the defence and prosecution sides.
The NBP president moved an application in the court under Section 265-D of the Criminal Procedure Code seeking his acquittal for lack of evidence.
According to the application, “the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in para 7 of the supplementary reference made a novel assertion and imaginary inclusion of applicant”. It said that “the accused No.01 (Saeed Ahmed) has refused to answer questions or to provide information to NAB, thus, the accused person has been found involved in the commission of offences of corruption and corrupt practices”.
The reference against Saeed Ahmed, as per the application, has been filed only on the basis of assumption by NAB which amounted to “aiding and abetting the offence”.
On Feb 26, the anti-graft watchdog filed a supplementary reference against Ishaq Dar in the assets case with regard to alleged accumulation of assets beyond his known sources of income.
On March 5, Judge Mohammad Bashir, who is presiding over the case, had ordered the indictment of National Bank of Pakistan President Saeed Ahmed, Naeem Mehmood and Mansoor Rizvi in Dar’s assets reference.
All the three have been accused in the supplementary reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against Dar.
The NBP president said he came to know in 2016 that as many as seven accounts were being operated in his name. His signatures were faked to open such accounts, he added.
A NAB prosecutor argued that millions of rupees were transacted into the foreign currency accounts, which were operated from 1997 to 2006.
