Assets beyond Income Reference: AC adjourns hearing till Monday

ISLAMABAD (92 News) – The accountability court (AC) has on Wednesday adjourned the hearing of reference against Finance Minister Ishaq Dar due to unavailability of the counsel of the federal minister. The AC judge Mohammad Bashir resumed hearing of the reference against the finance minister. During the proceedings, Ishaq Dar and the two witnesses Abdul Rehman Gondal and Masoodul Ghani appeared before the court but Khawaja Haris, the counsel of the finance minister failed to appear before the court, while his junior lawyer refused to cross the witnesses. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor told the court that these were just delaying tactics, adding that the lawyer would appear before the court tomorrow if the court sends the accused to jail. The junior lawyer informed the court that Khawaja Harris has gone abroad while the federal minister requested the court to adjourn the proceedings until his (Khawaja Harris) return from abroad after which the court adjourned the hearing until Monday. On the other hand, the court fixed a quota of NAB, lawyers of the accused and media for the hearing of Sharif family and Ishaq Dar’s cases. The judge remarked that nine members of NAB, 15 people from the accused including lawyers, while 15 media persons would be allowed to witness the court proceedings. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had filed a reference against Ishaq Dar for having assets beyond his sources of income. A 91 percent increase was observed in his assets in a short period of time. Dar and his family possess assets worth Rs 839 billion, the reference said. The apex court had earlier disqualified Nawaz Sharif as the prime minister and ordered corruption cases against him, his children Maryam, Husain and Hasan and son-in-law Muhammad Safdar.