Accountability court issues bailable arrest warrants against Ishaq Dar
The court has directed Ishaq Dar to ensure his presence on November 2.
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – An accountability court has on Monday issued bailable arrest warrants against Finance Minister Ishaq Dar for not appearing before it for the hearing of assets beyond known source of income reference that was filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
Judge Muhammad Bashir’s court rejected the plea of Dar’s lawyer to grant his client exemption from hearing, and directed the finance minister to ensure his presence on November 2.
The court also issued notice to Ishaq Dar’s guarantor and announced that the submitted surety bonds worth five million rupees by the minister will be confiscated if he fails to appear on Thursday.
Let it be known that the arrest warrants against Ishaq Dar had already been issued once in the case, and it was the eighth time today that he was summoned by the court.
The finance minister’s counsel Khawaja Haris had told the court that his client left for London on emergency basis as he was not feeling well, and had requested the court to give him immunity from hearing. He also submitted Dar’s medical report in the court.
NAB prosecutor raised objection and said it was shown on the television that Ishaq Dar went to London following ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Shehbaz Sharif.
On the other hand, four NAB witnesses were present in the accountability court during the hearing. Private bank officer Abdur Rehman Gondal presented the bank transaction record of Ishaq Dar which consisted of two bags.
Khawaja Haris objected to the bank record after he was directed by the court to carefully examine the data so that it may not be needed again in future. The lawyer also submitted reply on NAB report regarding the freezing of Dar’s assets and argued on it as well.
It is worth mentioning here that NAB Chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal had frozen Finance Minister Ishaq Dar’s assets, and the report had been submitted in the accountability court during the previous hearing.
It had been stated in the NAB report that all moveable as well as immoveable assets of the finance minister have been frozen.
