Corruption reference against Dar deferred till November 27

The court directs IO to present the record of transactions from accounts in next hearing


Our Correspondent ​ November 20, 2019
The court directs IO to present the record of transactions from accounts in next hearing. PHOTO: FILE

ISLAMABAD: An Accountability Court (AC) on Wednesday adjourned the hearing of a corruption reference against former finance minister Ishaq Dar and other co-accused till November 27 pertaining to assets beyond known sources of income.

The defence counsel would continue cross-examination with National Accountability Bureau (NAB's) investigation officer (IO) Nadir Abbas on the next hearing.

AC-I Judge Muhammad Bashir conducted hearing of the case filed by the anti-graft buster.

Co-accused former National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) president Saeed Ahmed had filed an application seeking one-day exemption from the hearing which was accepted by the judge.

NAB IO and last prosecution witness Nadir Abbas pleaded that the connection of co-accused with the foreign assets of Dar could not be proved so far.

He said that there was no connection of accused Mansoor Raza and Naeem Mehmood with Dar's bank accounts mentioned in the interim reference.

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Defence lawyer Qazi Misbah asked whether the person in whose account an amount of $2million was transferred in 1995 investigated.
Abbas replied that it was not part of his investigation but was the record of joint investigation team (JIT).

NAB prosecutor Afzal Qureshi objected over the defence queries stating how the counsel of a co-accused could inquire about the former finance minister who had been declared proclaimed offender.

He said that Dar had not even hired lawyer for his defence.
The investigation officer denied any relation of the co-accused Mehmood and Raza with the accounts and finding of record against Raza in JIT record.

Objecting to the NAB record, the defence lawyer asked for the record of accounts’ transactions to be presented in the court.

The court directed the investigating officer to present the record in the next hearing and adjourned the case till November 27.

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