Dar case hearing: AC reserves decision on NBP president's plea

The Accountability Court hearing corruption case against former finance minister Ishaq Dar Wednesday reserved its decision on a plea of National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) President Saeed Ahmed, seeking his acquittal from the reference.
The NBP president was nominated as co-accused in the supplementary reference filed against Dar by National Accountability Bureau (NAB). Ahmed through his counsel Hashmat Habib filed an application before the Accountability Court Judge Muhammad Bashir under section 256-D of the Criminal Procedure Code, seeking his acquittal from the reference.
During the hearing Habib while arguing before the court said that his client should not be charged even if the statements of the NAB are taken to be correct. He said that NAB has failed to establish allegations against his client. "NAB laws do not apply to the accusations leveled against my client," he said.
NAB Prosecutor Imran Shafiq adopted the stance that accused Dar required a qualified person on an important position to bring the amount to Pakistan and amount had been transferred to his account without raising any suspicion. It was not possible that such a huge amount transferred into the account of a public office-holder without Ahmad's role, he added.
Ahmed assisted Dar in opening accounts to transfer money into it, he said, and now he cannot say that he had no knowledge regarding the accounts that were opened.
Shafiq said how it can be possible that Ahmed was the deputy governor of SBP and he did not known about the accounts opened on his name.He said, "NAB has huge evidence against the accused and, therefore, the court should give us time to provide evidence." He said still 55 to 56 witnesses will be presented before the court, he said. The NAB prosecutor said that the accused also submitted nomination papers for the Senate elections that were held in March last. "Ahmad had opened another bank account for Dar and if the accused had not opened this account, Dar would not have been able to take part in Senate elections as the court had ordered to freeze his assets," he said.
During the hearing, the court recorded the statement of prosecution witness and National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) General Manager Ghazali Zahid. He told the court he appeared before NAB along with Ahmad's CNIC and other relevant record on November 11, 2017. Ahmad also produced before the court a copy of a letter written to chairman NAB against the NAB's attitude. The court after hearing the arguments adjourned the hearing till June 20.