Arrest warrant issued for Dar

Accountability court directs finance minister to appear on Nov 2

ISLAMABAD: An accountability court on Monday issued bailable arrest warrant for Finance Minister Ishaq Dar for failing to appear before the court in connection with a National Accountability Bureau (NAB) reference pertaining to his assets beyond means.

Judge Muhammad Bashir, while dismissing Dar’s application for exemption from personal appearance, issued the warrants and directed him to appear before the court on November 2. The court also issued notice to his surety-giver.

At the start of the hearing, Khawaja Haris, the counsel for Dar, requested the court to exempt the finance minister from appearing before the court because he fell ill and had to be taken to London for medical check-up.

NAB prosecutor argued that those were delaying tactics and requested the court to issue the warrants for the minister. The court dismissed the application, issued the bailable warrants and put a surety on notice.



On October 26, the judge, while hearing separate references, had issued bailable warrants of arrest against deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif over his failure to appear before the court. The judge had also dismissed Sharif’s application for exemption from personal appearance.

Interestingly, both Sharif and Dar first headed to Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah and then went to London. The court issued similar orders against both the key politicians of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) following their absence from the court.

In the application, Dar’s counsel said that the minister was leading a Pakistani delegation to the 16^th Ministerial Conference of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Programme scheduled for October 27 in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.

After attending the conference, Haris added, Dar proceeded to Saudi Arabia for the purpose of performing Umrah from where he was scheduled to return to Pakistan on October 29. “Unfortunately,” he said, “during his stay in Saudi Arabia, the applicant experienced heaviness in his chest and had to receive emergency treatment.”



Haris maintained that Dar was constrained to travel from Saudi Arabia to London in order to undergo the tests advised by the doctors therefore, he could not appear before the court on Monday. He added that an advocate Qausain Faisal Mufti has been authorised to represent Dar and there was no objection to the recording of prosecution’s evidence in the case.

NAB’s prosecution while opposing the request said that Dar’s medical report had not been submitted through proper channel. The NAB team said that it was a delaying tactic, therefore, the plea should be dismissed and bailable warrants of arrest be issued for Dar.

In the reference, NAB has alleged that the finance minister acquired assets and ‘pecuniary interests’ and resources beyond his known sources of income in his own name and in the name of his dependents amounting to Rs831.678 million. The trial resumes on November 2.