Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor in the corruption reference against former finance minister Ishaq Dar informed the court on Friday that the bureau would file supplementary references against the accused on Monday.

Earlier, the prosecution witness Inaamul Haq recorded his statement before the court while property documents for Dar’s wife and son Ali Dar were also furnished before the court.

The NAB has sought additional time to record the statement of the investigation officer (IO).

Two prosecution witnesses were expected to record their statements in the accountability court hearing the corruption reference.

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.

In the last hearing, on February 14, NAB had informed the accountability court that it planned to file a supplementary reference in the case.

The prosecution had also pleaded the court to issue warrants for the production of its last witness, Inamul Haq, as he had once again failed to appear in court to record his statement.

The court had not issued the warrants but gave the last warning to Haq to appear in court and adjourned the hearing.

Meanwhile, an appellate tribunal of the Lahore High Court on February 17 had ruled in Dar’s favour after his nomination papers were rejected by a returning officer.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had submitted court documents before the returning officer stating that Dar was a court absconder in a corruption reference underway in the Islamabad accountability court.

Dar had filed nomination papers for a technocrat seat in the Senate from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz for the elections, scheduled for March 3.

During the case’s hearing on February 12, FIA Additional Director Wajid Zia, who headed the Panama case Joint Investigation Team (JIT), had appeared before the court. Zia had presented the volume one and nine of the JIT report and also recorded his statement.

Zia had also informed the court of the work of the JIT related to the former finance minister, stating that Dar’s assets were shown to be Rs9.1 million according to his wealth statement in 1991 and Rs831.6 million in the 2008-09 statement. He had added Dar failed to prove the enormous growth in his assets before the JIT.

Dar has been a no-show in the proceedings after he departed for London in October last year seeking medical treatment. He has since been declared a proclaimed offender.