Dar reference: Court adjourns hearing until May 2

Court records statement of one witness in the case

An accountability court adjourned the case against former finance minister Ishaq Dar on supplementary corruption reference until May 2.

Mohammad Azeem, a witness recorded his statement in the case.

After multiple adjournments, an accountability court indicted President National Bank of Pakistan Saeed Ahmed and two others in the supplementary corruption reference filed against Dar on April 5.

Besides Ahmed, the two others who were indicted included Naeem Mehmood and Syed Mansoor Raza Rizvi. However, the accused denied the charges.

According to the indictment statement, the accused facilitated Dar in creating assets of (482, 848, 648) through unsolicited means.

According to the charge-sheet, president NBP, as co-director of Hajveri Modaraba Management Company, didn’t raise any objections when Dar opened five accounts in his name, from which he sent money abroad.

Similarly, Naeem Mehmood, who served as the director of the company, facilitated opening of illegal, bogus or fake bank accounts for the transfer of money abroad.



The third accused Mansoor Rizvi, worked in the accounts department. He was indicted for facilitation in opening the bank account, operating account in the name of Saeed Ahmed, transferring money in the bank accounts, using cheques, which led to the creation of excessive assets.

The court, however, removed charges of corruption in the case, saying the accused were charged with involvement in undeclared assets, not corruption. The prosecutor, however, raised objection on the exemption, stating that “it was the most important charge against those indicted.”

Adjourning the hearing, Judge Mohammad Bashir summoned prosecution witnesses on April 11.



In September last year, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) filed a reference against Dar on the directives of the Supreme Court in the Panama Papers case. The accountability body had named the three as co-accused and they had denied involvement in Dar’s alleged corruption.

During the last hearing, the court could not frame charges against Dar and the co-accused in the supplementary reference on Tuesday after misconduct by the defence counsel.

Islamabad High Court Bar Association (IHCBA) President Javed Akbar Shah, representing the co-accused Rizvi — one of the two directors of Dar’s company Hajveri Modaraba — had misbehaved with Justice Bashir during the hearing.

The reference

Dar, a close aide of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz supreme leader Nawaz Sharif, is under trial for possessing assets disproportionate to his declared source of income.

The supplementary reference, based on seven volumes including account details of the accused, was filed by NAB after the apex court’s verdict in the Panama Paper case.

Dar was re-elected to the Senate earlier this year.