Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: An accountability court in the federal capital on Tuesday rejected a request by National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) President Saeed Ahmed for acquittal in a supplementary reference pertaining to the assets case filed against former finance minister Ishaq Dar.

Accountability Court judge Muhammad Bashir dismissed through a short order an application moved by the NBP president calling for quashment of the reference.

The hearing of the case was adjourned till March 27.

Saeed moved the application in the court under Section 265-D of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), seeking his acquittal for lack of evidence.

On Feb 26, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had filed a supplementary reference against Ishaq Dar in the assets case with regard to alleged accumulation of assets beyond his known sources of income. Three suspects, including Saeed Ahmed, Mansoor Raza and Naeem Mehmood, were nominated in the reference.

In his application, the NBP president argued he came to know in 2016 that as many as seven accounts were being operated in his name. His signatures were faked to open such accounts, he claimed.

A NAB prosecutor argued that millions of rupees were transacted into the foreign currency accounts, which were operated from 1997 to 2006. He expressed surprise how come the NBP chief was ignorant of these accounts opened in his name.

The counsel of the accused said after the order that they will challenge the decision in a high court once the detailed judgment is released. Dar, a close aide of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif, is accused of possessing assets disproportionate to his declared sources of income.

Published in Daily Times, March 21^st 2018.