NAB greenlights unfreezing of Dar’s assets

District administration to unfreeze bank accounts containing billions of rupees

LAHORE:

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Tuesday issued a letter to restore the frozen assets of Finance Minister Ishaq Dar.

The bureau’s Lahore headquarters issued a letter to the district administration to restore the frozen assets of the finance minister. The anti-graft watchdog also issued a letter to also restore Rs5.58 billion worth of five accounts and one house.

It ordered to return the property Hajveri House, 7-H, Gulberg-III to Ishaq Dar while directing the concerned authorities to restore Rs508.9 million to the account of Bank Alfalah and Rs0.365 million to the account of Habib Bank.

Similarly, an account of Rs432 in Allied Bank, Rs249 in Al Barka Bank and Rs1,000 in Alfalah Bank have also been ordered to be restored.

Dar’s assets were frozen after his continuous absence from court proceedings.

Earlier in November, an Islamabad accountability court sent a reference against the finance minister and others in an assets-beyond-means case back to the NAB, saying that it did not have the jurisdiction to act under the new NAB laws.

Dar had approached the accountability court seeking his acquittal in the case, unfreezing of his assets, and a permanent exemption from personal attendance in proceedings.

The judge said that the reference does not fall under his court’s jurisdiction under the new NAB laws. A written verdict is awaited.

It is pertinent to mention here that the incumbent government, soon after coming into power, had made amendments to the NAB (Second Amendment) Bill in order to further clip the wings of the bureau.

It is pertinent to mention here that a reference against Ishaq Dar, Saeed Ahmed, Naeem Mahmood, and Mansoor Raza Rizvi was filed in 2017. During the trial of the case statements of 42 witnesses were recorded.

Following his indictment, Dar left the country and remained in self-exile for the next five years, during which time he was declared a proclaimed offender.  The decision was reversed in September this year soon, enabling Dar to return to the country and become the new finance minister.