Authorities unfreeze Dar's assets

The district administration of Lahore restored Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar's frozen assets on Thursday on orders of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

NAB also issued a notification to the relevant authorities to restore the finance minister's bank accounts which had earlier been frozen. 

Earlier this month, the bureau’s Lahore headquarters issued a letter to the district administration to restore the frozen assets of the finance minister.

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It had ordered unfreezing the property of Hajveri House while directing the concerned authorities to restore Rs507.9 million to the account of Bank Alfalah and Rs0.365 million to the account of Habib Bank.

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

It is pertinent to mention here that a reference against Dar, Saeed Ahmed, Naeem Mahmood, and Mansoor Raza Rizvi was filed in 2017. In the reference, NAB 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.

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.

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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.

According to Express News, Dar has taken custody of Hajveri House today (Thursday) while the bank accounts are also expected to be restored soon.