Islamabad (Staff Report): The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has decided to contact Interpol to bring former finance minister Ishaq Dar back to Pakistan to face trial in the court in corruption refernce case.
The Ishaq Dar is accused by NAB of possessing assets which are disproportionate to his declared sources of income.
The decision was taken during NAB’s Executive Committee meeting headed by NAB Chairman Javed Iqbal on Thursday.
“Ishaq Dar is not suffering from any disease that cannot be treated in Pakistan,” the NAB stated in a press release, adding that red warrants will be issued against the accused.
Earlier during the case hearing, details of Ishaq Dar and his family’s three bank accounts were submitted in the accountability court while record of the lockers under the former minister and his wife’s names was also presented.
Prosecution witness Azeem Khan, who is an officer at private bank, also recorded his statement in the case. He said National Accountability Bureau (NAB) asked him for details of Ishaq Dar’s accounts in August 2017.
Dar’s first bank account was opened during October 2001 to October 2012 while second one was registered between August 2012 and December 2016. Third account was active during January 2017 to August 2017.
An anti-corruption court in Islamabad also declared Dar an “absconder” after he repeatedly failed to appear before it in a graft case linking to the Panama Papers scandal.
The court ordered Dar, currently seeking medical treatment in London, to submit surety bonds within three days and warned that if he fails to do so, then authorities would freeze his assets.
In its case against Dar, the NAB has 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 Rs 831.678 million. The case was filed against him by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in the light of the Supreme Court order of July 28 that disqualified Nawaz Sharif as prime minister in the Panama Papers scandal.
Dar, 67, is in London since October and has been seeking treatment of an undefined heart complication at a Harley Street hospital. He was relieved of his duties last month after he requested leave for three months.
