Court adjourns hearing of graft reference against Ishaq Dar

ISLAMABAD: An Accountability Court hearing a corruption reference against former finance minister Ishaq Dar on Thursday adjourned the hearing till November 28.

Dar is facing charges of accumulating assets beyond known sources of income.

A co-accused and former president of National Bank, Saeed Ahmed, could not appear before the court due to ill health. The Judge approved his request for exemption from appearing before the court in the case.

Other co-accused of the reference Naeem Ahmed and Mansoor Rizvi were present in the court hearing.

The counsels of the accused during the hearing argued that the witnesses testifying in the court were not relevant to the charges against their clients.

The court after objection of the lawyers adjourned the hearing till November 28.

The accountability court in October allowed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to sell off the assets of former finance minister Ishaq Dar.

Accountability Judge Muhammad Bashir announced this verdict on a plea of the NAB seeking court’s permission to auction off the seized assets of the PML-N leader who has been declared proclaimed offender in the assets case.

Ishaq Dar is facing charges of accumulating assets beyond known sources of income.

The judge held that the provincial government has authority to either auction the assets or keep them with itself.