Ishaq Dar fails to appear as accountability court resumes proceedings

The accountability court resumed on Thursday hearing against Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in a corruption reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), even though he failed to appear for the trial.

Dar and his senior counsel Khawaja Harris did not appear before the court. Instead, Dar is being represented by a junior counsel Ayesha Hamid, local media reported.  The junior counsel filed an application to Judge Mohammad Bashir to exempt Dar from today’s trial as he was sick. She also presented doctor’s medical report from a London hospital stating that Dar has to undergo angiography.

However, NAB prosecutor objected to the medical report. The court reserved its decision and suspended the proceedings for half an hour. NAB also sought non-bailable warrants for Dar’s arrest and submitted details of the minister’s assets to the court.

The accountability court had rejected on Monday Harris’s application to exempt Dar from hearing due to his illness and had issued bailable arrest warrants for him. The court had directed Dar to appear in court on November 2.

Last month, the court had indicted Dar regarding the corruption case against him, which had been filed by NAB for having ‘assets beyond his known sources of income’.