ISLAMABAD – The accountability court on Monday declared former finance minister Ishaq Dar a proclaimed offender in a corruption case regarding possession of assets beyond means.
Judge Mohammad Bashir had announced the decision after the former finance minister did not attend the court hearings continuously as he is in London for medical treatment. He has skipped the last six hearings of the case.
As the hearing began, counsel for Dar submitted a fresh medical report of his client and asked the court to delay the proceedings to declare the former finance minister proclaimed offender.
However, NAB special prosecutor Imran Shafique opposed the plea and urged the court to declare the accused proclaimed offender.
The court also ordered Dar to submit surety bonds within three days, otherwise, his assets will be seized.
The court has adjourned the hearing till December 20.
On December 4, the court had reserved its verdict regarding officially declaring the former minister a proclaimed offender.
During the last proceedings, Dar’s counsel Qusain Faisal Mufti also submitted a medical report and raised objections to the court orders to reduce the notice period from 30 days to 10 days for declaring his client offender.
On Nov 21, the court had issued non-bailable arrest warrants against Dar and declared him an absconder on not attending the court hearings.
Indictment
On September 27, the former finance minister had been indicted for possessing assets beyond his known sources of income.
Dar had rejected the allegations levelled by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in its reference prepared following the orders of the Supreme Court in its July 28 verdict in Panamagate case.
NAB Reference
According to the NAB reference, the accused had acquired assets and pecuniary interests/resources in his name or in the name of his dependents of an approximate amount of Rs831.678 million as per the investigation conducted so far.
The assets are disproportionate to his known sources of income for which he could not reasonably account for, the reference said.
