Accountability court confirms freezing Ishaq Dar's assets

NAB had listed details of six bank accounts in Lahore and Islamabad, seven assets and companies abroad.

ISLAMABAD: An accountability court on Thursday endorsed an order by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to freeze all foreign and domestic assets as well as properties, bank accounts and investments of Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, barring just one account which is with the Accountant General of Pakistan Revenue (AGPR).

However, Judge Muhammad Bashir turned down the NAB’s request to issue non-bailable warrant for arresting the finance minister, keeping intact the previously issued bailable warrant for appearance before the court on November 8.

The court also directed Dar’s guarantor to ensure the presence of the accused on the next hearing while treating an application for exemption from appearance as an adjournment plea.

Meanwhile, the court directed NAB to verify a medical report submitted by Dar’s counsel, showing that his client was ill and getting medical treatment in London.



The orders were apparently issued after a NAB prosecutor raised objections to the medical report, insisting that it had not been submitted through proper channel.

The medical report maintained that Dar was to undergo a coronary angiography on November 3 (today).

Ayesha Hamid, the defence counsel, said that angiography would help doctors determine if Dar was to undergo an angioplasty or an open-heart surgery, adding that the medical examination would also determine when he could appear before the court.

Previously, while submitting details of the assets and properties of Dar, his family, dependents and ‘benamidars’, NAB had requested the court to endorse its action fearing “that the accused or his dependents/ benamidars may dispose of, alienate, sell, create charge or change the status of the property”.

The defence counsel pointed out at the outset that some properties mentioned in the NAB’s list had already been sold to other parties.



The court noted that properties sold by Dar to his family members would be frozen and the order would not apply if these had been sold to other individuals. Moreover, the court directed NAB to produce the court’s order before authorities in the United Arab Emirate and also request them to freeze the assets.

Ayesha Hamid said that under Section 23 of the NAB Ordinance, assets could not be frozen until the completion of the trial.

She said that two of Dar’s accounts were dormant with a closing balance of just Rs232 and Rs10.68, adding that “Dar receives his salary and allowances from a bank account in Allied Bank of Pakistan (ABL) and its closing balance is Rs1,116”.

In his account in Bank Alfalah, she said, there were Rs20 million that Dar used for personal expenses. She added that Dar spent his own money for travelling abroad and later received reimbursements in his HBL account.

Regarding properties, the defence counsel said that land in Moza Milot did not belong to Dar while a house in Gulberg, Lahore was purchased on May 21, 1988, and NAB authorities were not investigating this period.

She told the court that NAB mentioned a two-kanal plot in the Parliamentarians Enclave in Islamabad twice, adding that Dar had invested some money in the Senate Cooperative Housing Society in the federal capital but later retrieved it.

She said three plots in Alfalah Housing Society in Lahore, owned by Dar, his wife and son Ali Mustafa Dar were purchased on instalments. Some vehicles mentioned in the list had already been sold and a Mercedez never arrived in Pakistan, she said, adding that the car had been purchased in London and Dar gifted it to his son.

About investments in Hajveri holdings, the defence counsel said it was almost dormant while 382 shares of Dar’s wife in Sui Northern Gas Pipelines were of ‘nominal value’.

She said that Dar gifted his flat in Emirates Hills, Dubai to his sons while the flat mentioned in Palm Jumairah was not there but on Jumairah Beach.

A NAB prosecutor, Imran Shafique, pointed out that the Section 12 enabled the NAB chairman to freeze assets “as and when required”.