ISLAMABAD: An accountability court on Monday reserved judgment on applications seeking the acquittal of Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and other co-accused in the assets beyond means case, till Tuesday (today).
The Accountability Court judge, Muhammad Bashir, reserved his verdict after both sides completed their arguments over the application seeking acquittal of Dar and the other accused.
During the previous hearing, Dar had filed three applications before the court including seeking a permanent exemption from appearance before the court, acquittal in the case, and cancellation of the order to confiscate his assets.
Qazi Misbah, counsel for Dar, while arguing before the court said that 42 witnesses have so far appeared before the court and they have also been cross-examined. The anti-graft body did not mention the asset beyond means was a result of dishonesty and corrupt practices, adding in superior courts, these kinds of cases are not considered a case involving corruption.
He also contended that allegations of misusing the authority by Dar are also misleading.
The Joint Investigation Team (JIT) had submitted a wrong report to the Supreme Court, adding during his stay in the UAE his wealth increased and the donations he had given to charity organisations which was never checked.
The other co-accused of the case are former president National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) Saeed Ahmed; Naeem Mehmood, and Mansoor Rizvi - two directors of Dar’s companies.
The court also reserved its verdict on the applications of the co-accused.
A reference against the PML-N leader was filed by the NAB in light of the Supreme Court’s verdict in the Panama Papers case.
In its reference against the finance minister, the NAB alleged that “the accused has acquired assets and pecuniary interests/ resources in his own name and/ or in the name of his dependents of an approximate amount of Rs831.678 million (approximately)”.
The reference alleged that the assets were "disproportionate to his known sources of income for which he could not reasonably account for".
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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