Court adjourns corruption case hearing against Dar

ISLAMABAD: An accountability court on Monday resumed hearing reference of assets beyond declared source of income against former finance minister Ishaq Dar, ARY News reported.

At the outset of the hearing, the counsel of former president National Bank, Saeed Ahmed, submitted a plea before judge Muhammad Bashir seeking exemption of his client from appearance for the day.

The court admitted the plea and adjourned the hearing till November 9.

In the last hearing on Oct 23, Saeed Ahmed’s counsel continued cross examination of the prosecution’s witness, Tariq Saleem. Along with Ishaq Dar, three other co-accused in the reference are Saeed Ahmed, Naeem Mehmood and Mansoor Rizvi.

Dar on October 19 reportedly applied for political asylum in the United Kingdom.

His family had refrained from confirming or denying that Dar has requested political asylum stating that he is legally living in the UK.

However, his son Ali Dar denied reports of his father seeking political asylum. He said that his father visited the Home Office as his Pakistani nationality and passport has been revoked, and had to clarify his legal status in the UK.

He said that the senior Dar also submitted his medical reports, and took a photograph with certain officers of the Home Office which is not evidence that he has applied for political asylum.

It is pertinent to mention here that Ishaq Dar was declared fugitive in a case pertaining to assets beyond known sources of his income by a Supreme Court bench, which had also ordered National Accountability Bureau to file a corruption reference against him.

The PML-N leader remains in London, due to his health condition.