Head of Joint Investigation Team (JIT) that probed Panama Papers case, Wajid Zia, on Monday told the Accountability Court that former Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has failed to justify an exorbitant increase of 91 times in his assets from Rs 9.11 million to Rs 831.70 million as per his wealth statements. Zia, who is also Additional Director General of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), while recording his statement as a key prosecution witness before Accountability Court Judge Muhammad Bashir in connection with a corruption reference filed against Dar, produced the original copies of Volume-I and Volume-IXa of JIT report before the court.
He said that as per wealth statement of 1993, Dar's estimated wealth was around Rs 9.1 million whereas the wealth statement of 2009 revealed that he owned Rs 831.70 million. Zia further said that the JIT also found in Dar's assets a declaration submitted in 2005 under Representation of People Act (ROPA) that the accused invested GBP 5.5 million in Baraq Holding Limited. Dar also in his declaration of assets for year 2008 extended a loan of GBP 4.9 million to his son, Zia said, adding that the accused, however, did not declare the name of his son.
He further said that the accused was unable to provide an account of source for investment of GBP 5.5 million. Zia further said that Dar had received remittances from the UAE worth Rs 627 million from 2006 to 2016, which included repayment of loan and gifts from his son. These remittances became prime source of asset buildup as well as increase in his income from mere Rs 0.7 million in 2009 to Rs 46 million in 2015-16, he further said.
Earlier, he told the court that on April 20, 2017 Supreme Court of Pakistan had ordered to form a JIT to be led by an officer of FIA of additional director general's level. The panel of officers forwarded by FIA to Supreme Court included his name.
The apex court in its order on May 5, 2017 ordered him to head the JIT along with other members including Brigadier Muhammad Nauman Saeed (retd) from Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Amer Aziz from State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Brigadier Kamran Khurshid from Military Intelligence (MI), Bilal Rasul from Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and Irfan Naeem Mangi from NAB, he said.
He said that the JIT investigated the case and submitted a final report on July 10, 2017. The JIT recorded the statements of different people including Ishaq Dar, he said, adding that JIT collected record from SBP and other commercial banks, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), SECP and Election of Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
The court could not record the statement of Nadir Abass, an investigation officer of NAB, due to his illness. After recording the statement of Wajid Zia, the court adjourned the hearing till February 14 and summoned another prosecution witness, Inam-ul-Haq, and NAB investigation officer Nadir Abbas.