Hearing adjourned after recording witnesses’ statements against Ishaq Dar

An accountability court adjourned on Thursday a hearing regarding a corruption reference against former Finance Minister Ishaq Dar filed by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) till December 18. The court has summoned more witnesses on the next hearing.

During today’s hearing, witnesses Masood Ghani and Abdul Rehman Gondal, who are managers of private banks, rerecorded their statements before Judge Muhammad Bashir. According to local media reports, Gondal submitted Dar’s records of income statement from 2005 to 2017. They were later allowed to leave the court.

Accountability court declares Ishaq Dar proclaimed offender

Another witness Azeem Khan, Manager Operations of a private bank, recorded his statements. He presented before the courts Dar and his family’s three bank accounts. In his statements, Azeem said that NAB had asked in April to be provided with Dar’s account details. He said Dar’s first account was operated from 2001 to 2012, second from August 2012 to December 2016 and third from January 2017 to August 2017.

Faisal Shehzad, another witness, did not appear before the accountability court today due to his sister’s wedding.

Meanwhile, the court also ordered NAB to submit a report and attach the properties held by Dar’s guarantor Ahmed Ali Qudusi, due to his failure to present Dar before the court. Neither Dar nor Qudusi appeared at the court proceedings today.

During the last hearing on December 11, the court issued a final warning to Qudusi, to present Dar and if he failed to do so, he would have to submit surety bonds worth Rs 5 million. The accountability court had also declared Dar a proclaimed offender due to his continuous failure to appear before the court proceedings.