Ishaq Dar case: Additional accused to be indicted on March 12

F.P. Report

ISLAMABAD: The accountability court hearing corruption reference against former finance minister Ishaq Dar has ordered to indict the other accused on March 12 in the case.

Judge Mohammad Bashir resumed proceedings of the supplementary reference against the Senator Ishaq Dar, who has been declared a proclaimed offender in the case because of his no-show since October last year.

The other accused in the case President of National Bank of Pakistan, Saeed Ahmed, Naeem Mehmood and Mansoor Rizvi.

Last week, the court had accepted NAB’s supplementary reference, which includes 24 additional witnesses and three new accused persons.

NBP Chief Saeed Ahmed appeared in court today with his counsel Hashmat Habib and he argued that there are several problems in framing charges and pleaded that the accused be granted time to read the charge-sheet.

Later the accountability court adjourned the hearing and the court ruled that the accused will be indicted on March 12, when the next hearing will take place.

Ishaq Dar, a former finance minister facing a corruption case in the accountability court for possessing assets beyond declared source of income.

NAB filed an interim reference against Dar in September last year in light of the Supreme Court’s July 28, 2017 verdict in the Panama Papers case.

The 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.