ISLAMABAD: The accountability court hearing a graft reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against former finance minister Ishaq Dar on charges of having assets beyond his known sources of income has adjourned hearing of the case till January 2.
Judge Muhammad Bashir adjourned the hearing on Thursday after the NAB prosecutor informed him about the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) stay order on the accountability court’s proceedings against Dar.
The IHC on Wednesday barred the accountability court from holding proceedings in the case till January 17, 2018, while hearing the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader’s petition against the anti-graft court’s issuance of non-bailable arrest warrants against him and an order declaring him a proclaimed offender.
During Thursday’s proceedings, Justice Bashir asked the NAB prosecutor for a copy of the IHC stay order, to which the prosecutor replied that the team has requested the IHC to provide a copy of the stay order.
During the last hearing of the reference on Monday, four witnesses recorded their statements and presented Ishaq Dar’s salary and assets records before the court. The witnesses included private bank officer Afsar Faisal Shehzad, Cabinet Division Deputy Secretary Qamar Zaman and National Assembly Director Budget Sherdil Khan.
The court had also directed the NAB to submit its report pertaining to confiscation of properties of Dar and his guarantor and dismissed Dar’s request to appoint Qazi Misbah as his counsel.
On July 28, a five-member Supreme Court bench had ordered NAB to file three references against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and one against Dar, on petitions filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Imran Khan, Jamaat-e-Islami’s Sirajul Haq and Awami Muslim League’s Sheikh Rashid Ahmed.
In its reference against the finance minister, NAB alleged that “the accused has acquired assets and pecuniary interests/resources in his own name and/or in the name of his dependants of an approximate amount of Rs831.678 million (approx)”.
The reference alleged that the assets were “disproportionate to his known sources of income for which he could not reasonably account for”.
Last month, the government withdrew the portfolio of finance minister of Dar.
