ISLAMABAD: The accountability court on Thursday directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to produce more witnesses against former finance minister Ishaq Dar, who is facing a corruption reference for having assets beyond his declared and known sources of income. When the court judge Muhammad Bashir resumed the hearing after couple of weeks, NAB prosecutor informed the court that the Islamabad High Court (IHC) has dismissed the other day (Wednesday) Dar’s plea and vacated its stay order on the corruption proceedings against him before the accountability court. The court then directed the NAB prosecutor Imran Shafique to produce maximum witnesses on next hearings. To a court query, the prosecutor stated that there were total 28 prosecution witnesses against Dar, out of whom 10 witnesses have recorded their statements against him. Meanwhile, the court adjourned the hearing till January 22. On another application of Dar seeking to reopen the seized bank accounts of his charitable organization Hajvery Trust, the court directed the NAB prosecutor to submit written response till January 24. Ishaq Dar is accused of possessing assets beyond his declared and known sources of income. A reference was filed against him on the Supreme Court’s July 28, 2017 orders in the Panama Papers case. Published in Daily Times, January 19th 2018.