Finance czar: Double whammy for Ishaq Dar

NAB freezes his property; accountability court issues arrest warrants

ISLAMABAD: Wednesday proved to be a particularly torrid day for the nation’s finance czar as the country’s top graft-buster froze his assets in one fell swoop just hours after an accountability court issued arrest warrants over Ishaq Dar’s failure to appear before the bench.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) moved to freeze all moveable and immoveable properties of federal Finance Minister Dar in connection with the probe into accumulation of assets beyond his known sources of income.

According to a notification, Dar, “or any of his relatives and associates, or any other person on his behalf shall not transfer any property owned by [Dar] or in his possession”.



The notification, issued by NAB’s Lahore office and addressed to several federal and provincial government departments and autonomous bodies, stated that in light of the Supreme Court order in the Panama Papers case, an interim reference is pending against the accused in an accountability court, while investigations into his accumulation of assets is in progress. The notification was issued under Section 23 of the National Accountability Ordinance.

Violation of the notified instructions carries penalties of up to three years in prison and a fine “not exceeding the value of the property”, the notification says.

Meanwhile, in a related development, a NAB Lahore team went to the official residence of the finance minister inside the Minister’s Enclave in Islamabad to deliver a second notice for appearance in court to Dar.

NAB’s spokesperson rejected reports that the NAB Lahore team had gone to the minister’s house to arrest him. He said the team had gone specifically to deliver the court notice.

Arrest warrants

An accountability court issued an arrest warrant for Dar with bail of Rs1 million for his failure to appear before it in a reference filed by NAB.



Accountability Court Judge Muhammad Bashir issued the warrant and set bail conditions to ensure the minister’s appearance in court on September 25.

On Wednesday, a NAB representative submitted a report regarding the execution of summons and requested the court to issue a warrant to ensure Dar’s presence in court.

During the hearing, Dar’s staff officer Fazal Dad said that summons had been received and the finance minister was aware of the hearing date but he was in London on a private visit. “His seat was confirmed and he intended to return [in time], but he couldn’t,” the official said.

The accountability court judge noted that the summons had been received by the minister’s driver and his protocol officer was also aware of it. The court also noted that the previous summons returned with proper execution and the driver’s statement was annexed with it.



The court had summoned Dar to appear on September 20.

In the reference against Dar, NAB said it had yet to determine the role of the president of the National Bank of Pakistan and others in “aiding and abetting” the finance minister.

In the reference, NAB alleged that Dar “has acquired assets and pecuniary interests and resources in his own name and the names of his dependants of an…amount of Rs831.678 million”.

The reference alleged that these assets are disproportionate to his known sources of income.

The accountability court will resume proceedings in the reference against Dar on September 25, while the reference against the Sharif family would be taken up on September 26.