ISLAMABAD: An accountability court on Wednesday directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to reply to a plea of former finance minister Ishaq Dar’s wife regarding seizure of their residence.
Dar is facing charges of accumulating assets beyond known sources of income.
While giving the “final chance” to NAB for filing a reply, the court asked the accountability watchdog reasons for not furnishing a reply on the petition filed by Tabassum Ishaq Dar, wife of the former finance minister regarding seizure of their Gulberg residence.
The NAB prosecutor general said the answer couldn’t be prepared as yet, hence he requested further time.
The court gave him the last chance to file reply in the next hearing. The accountability court adjourned the hearing till December 5.
Following the filing of the reference in September last year, NAB has seized all of Dar’s moveable and immoveable assets, including a house in Gulberg-III, Lahore; three plots in Al-Falah Housing Society, Lahore; six acres of land in Islamabad; a two-kanal plot in the Parliamentarians Enclave, Islamabad; and a few plots and vehicles.
The accountability court in October allowed NAB to sell off the assets of former finance minister Ishaq Dar.
Accountability Judge Muhammad Bashir announced this verdict on a plea of the NAB seeking court’s permission to auction off the seized assets of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader who has been declared proclaimed offender in the assets case.
Earlier on Tuesday, district authorities in Punjab transferred over Rs500 million from Ishaq Dar’s bank accounts to the provincial government following directives issued by an accountability court in Islamabad.
BACKGROUND:
A reference against the former finance minister was filed by NAB in light of the Supreme Court’s July 28 verdict in the Panama Papers case.
In its reference, 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”.
The reference alleged that the assets were “disproportionate to his known sources of income for which he could not reasonably account for”.
Dar, a former senator, has been in London since October 2017 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.
