Court adjourns corruption hearing against Dar till November 5

ISLAMABAD: An Accountability Court on Wednesday (today) adjourned hearing of the assets beyond means reference against former finance minister, Ishaq Dar till November 5.

Accountability Judge, Muhammad Bashir resumed the hearing against Dar, in which three co-accused nominated in the reference namely, former president, National Bank, Saeed Ahmed, Naeem Mehmood and Mansoor Rizvi appeared before the court.

Saeed Ahmed’s counsel continued cross examination of the prosecution’s witness, Tariq Saleem, as the hearing resumed today. “The loan was settled within a month, record of account transactions was presented by Mohsin Amjad”, said Tariq Saleem while recording his statement in the reference.

The accountability court later adjourned the hearing till November 5 on the request of Saeed Ahmed’s counsel.

Former finance minister Ishaq 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 He said that his father visited the Home Office as his Pakistani nationality and passport has been revoked, and had to clarify his legal status in the UK.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.

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Accountability Shehzad Akbar also refused to confirm whether Dar had applied for political asylum, but said he will not be surprised by such a move by him.

It is worth mentioning 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.

On the directives of the top court, the PML-N leader has been blacklisted and his passport was blocked.