ISLAMABAD: The accountability court hearing the illegal assets accumulation case against Senator Ishaq Dar has yet to indict the co-accused, and the case has been adjourned till March 30.
The accused have been identified as former National Bank of Pakistan President Saeed Ahmed, Naeem Mehmood and Mansoor Rizvi.
The three have been accused in the supplementary reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against the former finance minister, who has been absconding in the case since October last year.
As Accountability Judge Muhammad Bashir resumed hearing of the case on Wednesday, suspects Naeem Mehmood and Mansoor Raza were presented before the court, while Ahmed failed to appear. Ahmed’s lawyer informed the court that his client had been granted two-day exemption from appearance. The judge then ordered the two accused to submit surety bonds worth Rs 1 million each to the court, and adjourned the hearing till March 30.
Dar, a close aide of Pakistan Muslim League-N chief Nawaz Sharif, is accused of possessing assets disproportionate to his declared sources of income.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had filed an interim reference against Dar in September last year in light of the Supreme Court’s verdict in the Panama Papers case. The recently-filed supplementary reference is based on seven volumes and includes the account details of the accused persons, with transactions amounting to $4.06 million, according to NAB’s Special Prosecutor Imran Shafiq.
The three accused in the supplementary reference are identified as directors of Dar’s companies.
Published in Daily Times, March 29th 2018.
