Accountability court exonerates Ishaq Dar in assets' beyond means case
Pakistan
The judgement has been announced
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) - An accountability court on Monday declared PML-N leader and former finance minister Ishaq Dar innocent in the assets beyond means case.
Earlier, the court reserved ruling on the reference against Dar.
The NAB prosecutor argued in the court that no proof of corruption was found against Dar and therefore, the case must be disposed of. The court sought a written reply from the NAB prosecutor.
“The NAB prosecutor should submit its reply in written form if the anti-graft watchdog has no objection on Dar’s exoneration,” AC judge Muhammad Bashir said.
The NAB prosecutor, Afzal Qureshi, said the watchdog gave its arguments completely on merit and therefore the court should announce its verdict.
THE CASE
In 2017, the NAB filed a reference against Dar on the recommendations of the Supreme Court in its Panama Papers case verdict.
In the reference, NAB alleged that the accused has acquired assets and pecuniary interests/resources in his own name and/or in the name of his dependents of an approximate amount of Rs831.678 million.
The NAB alleged that the assets were disproportionate to his known sources of income for which he could not reasonably account for.
Former National Bank President (NBP) president Saeed Ahmed, and Mansoor Raza Rizvi and Naeem Mehmood, the directors of Ishaq Dar’s Hajveri Modaraba are the co-accused in the same case.
The same court, in December 2017, declared Dar a proclaimed offender as he failed to appear before the court, despite repeated summons.
