Assets beyond means case: Dar doesn’t appear before court because judge was on leave

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Ishaq Dar on Tuesday did not appear before the Accountability Court to surrender himself in the assets beyond means case against him and others as the Judge Muhammad Bashir was on leave.

The Accountability Court-I Judge, Muhammad Bashir, on September 23, suspended Dar’s arrest warrant who had been in London since 2017 till October 7 this year. The court also observed that it will consider permanently suspending Dar’s arrest warrants once he surrenders before the court.

Dar returned to the country on Monday alongside Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to take over the finance portfolio, which he has previously held.

Dar was supposed to appear before the Accountability Court on Tuesday to surrender, but he did not appear as Accountability Court-I Judge Muhammad Bashir was on leave.

Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and other PML-N leaders reached the court in connection with Dar’s appearance before the court; however, he came to know that judge Bashir is on leave.

After getting information that the judge is on leave told Inspector General of Police (IGP) Dr Akbar Nasir Khan who was present there that they will appear again in the court when the judge will be there for the hearing.

When a journalist asked the Interior minister that today, will he not talk to the media? Sanaullah replied that today, the judge of the accountability court is on leave, so what should we talk about?

The same court on December 10, 2017, declared Dar the main accused as a proclaimed offender for continuously remaining absent during the court proceedings.

The other co-accused of the case included former president National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) Saeed Ahmed; Naeem Mehmood, and Mansoor Rizvi – the two directors of Dar’s companies.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022