Daily Times

Former finance minister Ishaq Dar’s counsel on Wednesday completed cross-examination of a key witness, Masood Al-Ghani, in the assets reference.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had filed an interim reference against Dar in September last year, on the Supreme Court’s directives in the Panama Papers case. Dar was indicted in the case and has been absconding since November.

Later, in a supplementary reference, NAB named National Bank of Pakistan president Saeed Ahmed and Naeem Mehmood and Mansoor Rizvi, directors of a company owned by Dar, as co-accused in the case.

During the hearing on Wednesday, the defense counsel, Qazi Misbah, completed his cross-examination of Masood Al Ghani, who is associated with a private bank.

Further, Adnan Shuja, the assistant lawyer of Hashmat Habib, the counsel of the co-accused, also asked the court for permission to leave for Umrah.

Responding to the request, accountability judge Muhammad Bashir remarked that senior lawyer Hashmat Habib was already not appearing before the court due to health problems. “The trial is ongoing, how can you leave at this stage.”

During the last hearing on May 16, another prosecution witness, Mohammad Azeem, had produced in court cheques presented by Dar to Hajvery Foundation.

On January 22, 2010, Dar issued a cheque of Rs0.4 million, while on March 1, 2010, he issued a cheque of Rs0.7 million.

In total, Dar issued cheques worth Rs65.3 million to Hajvery Foundation, Azeem, an official at a private bank, informed the court.

Azeem said he presented Dar’s bank transactions first to NAB and then to the court. The witness also detailed the transaction history of the former minister.

Dar, a relative of the PML-N quaid Nawaz Sharif, is accused of possessing assets disproportionate to his declared sources of income. The three accused in the supplementary reference are identified as directors of Dar’s companies and accused of opening fictitious accounts in his name.

The supplementary reference is based on seven volumes and includes the account details of the accused persons, with transactions amounting to $4.06 million, according to NAB’s Special Prosecutor Imran Shafiq.

Dar was recently re-elected to the Senate of Pakistan but was yet to take oath when on May 8, the Supreme Court, while hearing a petition against the acceptance of Dar’s nomination papers, temporarily suspended Dar’s Senate membership.

Published in Daily Times, May 31^st 2018.