Assets beyond Income: AC issues bailable arrest warrant of Ishaq Dar

ISLAMABAD (92 News) – The accountability court (AC) has on Monday issued bailable arrest warrant of Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in assets beyond income reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). The accountability court judge Muhammad Bashir resumed hearing of the assets beyond income reference against the finance minister. Ishaq Dar failed to appear before the court. Khawaja Haris, the counsel of the federal minister said that his client could not appear before the court as he was in London for medical examination and would appear before the court on Thursday. The court rejected plea of Ishaq Dar for exemption from personal appearance and issued his bailable arrest warrant. On October 23 at the last hearing, the court recorded statements of NAB's witnesses, including Abdul Rehman Gondal of Allied Bank and Masoodul Ghani of Habib Bank Limited. Earlier, three witnesses testified in the case, including Al-Baraka Bank Senior Vice-President Tariq Javed and Shahid Aziz of the National Investment Trust (NIT) asset management company. Last month, the court had indicted Dar in the Panama Papers case, and he was charged for possessing assets beyond his known sources of income. The minister had called the charges baseless and pleaded not guilty. On September 8, the NAB had filed the case of disproportionate assets against Dar. The case was lodged after the Supreme Court, on July 28, disqualified then prime minister Nawaz Sharif as an MP, forcing him to step down as the prime minister. The case was filed against Dar by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) following a verdict by the Supreme Court, which disqualified Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif after an investigation into corruption allegations against his family.