ISLAMABAD: The Accountability Court on Monday granted a permanent exemption to Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and sought arguments over his acquittal plea in the assets beyond means case against him and others.

The Accountability Court judge, Muhammad Bashir, while hearing the case approved Dar’s application seeking permanent exemption from personal appearance before the court.

The finance minister appeared before the court along with his counsel. The court allowed Dar to go after marking his attendance. Dar has filed through his counsel three applications before the court including seeking a permanent exemption from appearance before the court, acquittal in the case, and to cancel the order to confiscate his assets.

The court, after granting permanent exemption to Dar, sought arguments from the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and the defense counsel over his acquittal application and plea seeking the cancellation of confiscation of his assets during the next hearing to be held on November 16.

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. The court on December 11, 2017, declared Dar the main accused as a proclaimed offender for continuously remaining absent during court proceedings.

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

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022