Islamabad (January 31, 2018): An accountability court will resume hearing of National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) reference against former Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, filed for possessing assets beyond means, today in federal capital.
Yesterday, The accountability court adjourned the corruption proceedings against former finance minister Senator Ishaq Dar till Wednesday.
During the hearing, Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) Joint Registrar Sidra Mansur recorded her statement and presented details of Dar’s companies in court.
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Dar, a close aide of Pakistan Muslim League-N chief Nawaz Sharif, is accused of possessing assets disproportionate to his declared sources of income.
A reference against him was filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in light of the Supreme Court’s July 28 verdict in the Panama Papers case.
Dar, following his indictment, has been a no-show in the proceedings after he departed for London in October last year seeking medical treatment.
During the hearing on Monday,Six witnesses including Shakeel Anjum Nagra, Director NAB Hasan Iqbal, Omer Daraz Gondal, Commissioner Inland Revenue Mohammad Ishtiaq, District officer Industries Asghar Hussain and NAB Assistant Director Zawar Manzoor recorded their statements in the court yesterday.
Ahmed had informed the court that Dar’s wealth increased 91 times from Rs9.1 million in June 1993 to over Rs830 million by 2009.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) witness told the accountability court during hearing of a corruption reference against the former finance minister for holding assets beyond his means that Ishaq Dar’s wealth increased exponentially between 1993 and 2009.
Commissioner Inland Revenue Ishtiaq Ahmed, while recording his statement, revealed that wealth records from 1993 showed Dar’s total assets were worth Rs9.1 million.
“These assets grew to Rs830m according to records from 2009,” he added, highlighting the exponential increase in Dar’s wealth over the given time period.
“According to Dar’s tax returns, he paid Rs0.7m as tax in 1993, while in 2009 he paid Rs40m as tax,” Ahmed told the court as he presented the former minister’s tax records from 1993 to 1979, and from 2009 to 2016 in court.
NAB officials Shakeel Anjum Nagra, Iqbal Hasan and Umer Daraz Gondal also recorded their statements as witnesses before the court.
After all the witnesses had recorded their statements for the day, the NAB prosecutor asked the court to allow him to add two more witnesses to the prosecution’s list.
According to the NAB prosecutor, Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan officials Sidrah Mansoor and Salman Saeed would produce records regarding Dar’s companies in court.
According to the the prosecutor, the record spans six folders.
In response to the application, the accountability judge said that the NAB prosecutor had two days to present as many witnesses in court as he was able to.
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