ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Tuesday dismissed the petition filed by Federal Minister for Finance Senator Muhammad Ishaq Dar challenging the charge sheet framed by the accountability court in an interim reference against him. The minister had cited the accountability court and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) as respondents, through his counsel Khawaja Haris Ahmed.
After the petition was filed, IHC Chief Justice Muhammad Anwar Khan Kasi constituted a two-member bench, comprising Justice Athir Minnallah and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb, to hear the petition on October 3.
In his petition, Dar had pleaded to be granted a stay on the proceedings before the accountability court on grounds that the petitioner be granted an adequate opportunity to raise an objection to the framing of charge and its contents before calling and recording of the prosecution witnesses.
In the petition, the counsel stated that in purported compliance to the judgment dated July 21, 2017, passed by the Supreme Court in the Panama Papers case, an interim reference against the finance minister was pending before the Accountability Court.
Moreover, the petitioner had filed, inter alia, an application before the accountability court for postponing the framing of charge on the ground that the said charge should only be framed not earlier than seven days of supply of the documents including investigation report.
Moreover, the petition stated that the framing of charge without observing the mandatory provision of law was in breach of the principle of fair trial guaranteed by the constitution. The petitioner’s right to fair trial was further compromised by the fact that copy of charge sheet was yet not been provided to the petitioner while the reference was fixed for the recording of the evidence of the prosecution on Oct 4, 2017, it added.
