NAB submits details of Dar's seized assets in accountability court

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Friday submitted details of former finance minister Ishaq Dar’s assets that have been seized before an accountability court.

Accountability Court Judge Muhammad Bashir heard a NAB petition to sell former finance minister Ishaq Dar’s assets in Pakistan.

As the hearing began, NAB special prosecutor Imran Shafiq presented his arguments and said if reservations are not raised within the given time then the assets can be sold. "The accused can approach the court till six months after the assets are sold," he added.

Shafiq further said that so far Dar has expressed no reservations and even if he appears before the court after the assets are sold then he can be granted his rights.

The NAB special prosecutor also requested the court to issue an order regarding Dar properties in Islamabad and Lahore which are beyond the court's ambit.

Judge Bashir then asked the NAB special prosecutor to submit details of Dar's properties that have been seized after which the court went on break. When the hearing resumed, the NAB prosecutor submitted the details of the seized assets.

According to NAB, Dar owns three flats in Dubai, a house in Lahore's Gulberg, four plots in Islamabad and one luxury car.

NAB also informed the court that the former finance minister is a shareholder in three companies based in Dubai, while his wife owns six cars in Pakistan. "Dar and his wife have also invested Rs3,453,000 in Hajveri Holdings Pvt Limited."

A day earlier, NAB had filed the petition seeking the court’s permission to sell off Dar’s assets in Pakistan as he has been absconding.

Filed by NAB’s special prosecutor Imran Shafiq, the petition stated the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader went to London for medical treatment and continues to abscond in corruption cases against him in the accountability court.

The petition further stated that some of Dar’s properties have been seized while others are beyond the accountability court’s ambit.

NAB requested the court to issue an order on the former finance minister’s remaining properties and to appoint revenue officers of related districts as representatives.

Further, NAB in its petition stated that money raised in the form of rent on Dar’s properties should be added in the national exchequer.

The case

The former finance minister is accused of possessing assets disproportionate to his declared sources of income.

A reference against the former finance minister was filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in light of the Supreme Court's July 28 verdict in the Panama Papers case.

Dar had earlier been declared a proclaimed offender by the accountability court due to his continuous absence from the proceedings.

In November 2017, then-prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi had accepted Dar’s request to be relieved of his duties as the finance minister.