ISLAMABAD: Accountability Court Tuesday sought arguments on the court’s jurisdiction in the assets beyond means case against Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and former finance minister Ishaq Dar and others.

The Accountability Court judge, Muhammad Bashir, while hearing the case, sought arguments from the prosecution and the defence over the jurisdiction of the court and adjourned the hearing of the case till October 17.

National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor Afzal Qureshi and defence counsel appeared before the court.

However, Dar did not appear before the court.

The court marked the attendance of co-accused including former National Bank President (NBP) president Saeed Ahmed, Mansoor Raza Rizvi, and Naeem Mehmood, the directors of Ishaq Dar’s Hajveri Modaraba.

At the start of the hearing, defense counsel Qazi Misbah requested the court to adjourn the hearing for two months.

The NAB prosecutor told the court that this is the case of the NAB Lahore region.

Defence told the court that this case had been closed.

The court after hearing the arguments, sought arguments on the court jurisdiction and adjourned the hearing till October 17.

The same court in December 2017 declared Dar a proclaimed offender as he failed to appear before the court despite repeated summons.

The PML-N leader returned to the country on September 26, 2017, and appeared before the court.

The court sent a reference against Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and others on November 21, 2022, back to the NAB in the wake of amendment made by the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) government.

In the reference against Dar, 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 (approx). 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, 2023