On Wednesday, a response court in Islamabad issued a warrant for the arrest of former finance minister Ishaq Dar on a corruption charge.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has filed a complaint against Dar, who has been declared bankrupt in the case because he missed an interview due to a long stay in London, alleging that the former minister had acquired assets beyond his well-known sources of revenue. .
The court also ruled that the NBP president Saeed Ahmed, Mansoor Raza Rizvi, and Naeem Mehmood, former directors of Ishaq Dar’s Hajveri Modaraba – had arrested the PML-N leader. .
The defendants and their co-defendants have applied for their release and are challenging the referendum under the NAB amendment clause.
In today’s hearing, NAB prosecutor Afzal Qureshi and the accused’s counsel appeared in court, with Judge Muhammad Bashir presiding over the proceedings.
The judge ruled that the referendum would not proceed until Dar was arrested and brought before the court and that a decision on the release of the accused would be made only thereafter.
The court then adjourned the hearing until Dar’s arrest.
Reference
On July 28, 2017, a five-member Supreme Court bench ordered the NAB to file three petitions against former prime minister Nakaz Sharif and one against then finance minister Dar, in a petition filed by PTI chairman Imran Khan, Jamaat-i-Islami. Sirajul Haq and Sheikh Rashid Ahmed of the Awami Muslim League.
According to Dar, NAB alleged that “the accused had acquired assets and pecuniary interests / resources on his behalf and / or on behalf of his dependents for approximately Rs831.678 million (approx)”.
The index alleges that these assets “are not equal to his known sources of revenue for which he is not accountable”.
The government has withdrawn the portfolio of finance minister in Ishaq Dar.
On November 14, 2017, the court issued Dar’s non-bailable arrest warrant on reference.
The court ruled Ishaq Dar – who was in London and not yet returned – a fugitive on December 11, 2017 in a referendum after a former finance minister repeatedly failed to join a case.
