ISLAMABAD: Four witnesses recorded their statements before an accountability court in Islamabad on Monday during the hearing into references against former finance minister Ishaq Dar.
The witnesses appeared on behalf of the prosecution before accountability Judge Mohammad Bashir who was hearing the reference regarding assets beyond known means of income, filed against Dar by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on the Supreme Court’s order.
Among the witnesses presented before the court by the prosecution was Faisal Shehzad, an official at a private bank, who provided details pertaining to Dar’s bank accounts.
Director of the National Assembly, Sher Dil Khan, also recorded his statement and provided details of Dar’s political career and the various portfolios he has held since the early 1990s.
Khan told the court that the former minister had first become a member of the NA in 1993 on the NA-95 (Lahore) seat. He was receiving a salary of Rs14,000 a month as a member of the NA at the time, Khan added.
He said that in 1997, Dar was appointed the minister of commerce. Two years later, in 1999, former president Pervez Musharaf came to power and then prime minister Nawaz Sharif was removed.
In 2013, Dar was made the minister of economic affairs, revenue and statistics. He was also given the responsibilities of privatisation, Khan told the court.
In August 2017, after Nawaz was disqualified by the Supreme Court, Dar was removed as finance minister ─ an portfolio he occupied again for a short while in Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi’s cabinet.
As he completed his statement, Khan said that the copies of the real notifications of Dar’s appointments and removals were available.
Qamar Zaman, the third witness presented by the prosecution before the court during today’s hearing, provided details pertaining to Dar’s income and allowances.
The fourth witness, Wasif Hussain, deputy secretary Cabinet division, also recorded his statement presenting details of Dar’s appointment as minister and other portfolios.
In the previous hearing of the case on December 12, the court had declared Dar a proclaimed offender for his continued absence from proceedings in a reference against him.
The court also issued a final warning to the guarantors of the former finance minister to produce him in court or forfeit surety bonds worth Rs5 million.
A fifth witness was expected to record his statement before the court today but was unable to do so due to other commitments. The hearing was adjourned until December 21 (Thursday).
On July 28, a five-member Supreme Court bench had ordered NAB to file three references against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and one against Dar, on petitions filed by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s Imran Khan, Jamaat-i-Islami’s Sirajul Haq and Awami Muslim League’s Sheikh Rashid Ahmed.
In its reference against the finance minister, NAB alleged that “the accused has acquired assets and pecuniary interests/resources in his own name and/or in the name of his dependants 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”.
Last month, the government withdrew the portfolio of finance minister of Dar.
