ISLAMABAD: An accountability court disposed of the criminal proceedings against Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in the assets beyond means case, here on Tuesday.

A day earlier, while announcing the verdict reserved by the court, Judge Mohammad Bashir said that they could neither announce a decision in favour of the NAB nor could they issue a decision in favour of the suspect and the case against Ishaq Dar ends here.

The case was filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in December 2017 against Dar, accusing him of possessing assets disproportionate to his declared sources of income.

However, the court no longer has the authority to hear the case or releasing a verdict on pleas seeking acquittal after the National Accountability (Second Amendment) Act, 2022.

In light of the Supreme Court’s July 28, 2017, verdict in the Panama Papers case, the NAB filed the reference against Dar.

Dar had also been declared a proclaimed offender by the accountability court due to his continuous absence from the proceedings. In October 2022, the court suspended his arrest warrants upon his appearance before it.

In August, the National Assembly passed the National Accountability (Second Amendment) Bill, 2022, which sought to exclude private transactions from the scope of the NAB.

Under the amended bill, the pecuniary jurisdiction of the NAB had been fixed to only take action against mega scandals.

Furthermore, it had been proposed that supplementary references can only be filed with the permission of the court to expedite the proceedings of the court within one year.

Following the amendment, accountability courts withdrew 50 major corruption cases against suspects, including Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, former chief minister Punjab Hamza Shehbaz, National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf, and former Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022