Court to indict NBP president, others in Dar's assets case on March 20

ISLAMABAD: An accountability court in the federal capital on Wednesday set March 20 for framing charges against National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) President Saeed Ahmed and two other accused in a supplementary reference pertaining to the assets case filed against former finance minister Ishaq Dar. 

As Accountability Judge Muhammad Bashir resumed hearing into the reference, the NBP president and other accused persons appeared before it.

The judge adjourned the hearing till March 20 at the request of Saeed Ahmed’s lawyer when it said it will frame charges against the accused named in the supplementary reference.

A day earlier, the judge reserved his verdict on a plea of the NBP president seeking his acquittal in the case.

The NBP president moved an application in the court under Section 265-D of the Criminal Procedure Code seeking his acquittal for lack of evidence.

On Feb 26, the anti-graft watchdog filed a supplementary reference against Ishaq Dar in the assets case with regard to alleged accumulation of assets beyond his known sources of income.

Three suspects, including Saeed Ahmed, Mansoor Raza and Naeem Mehmood, were nominated in the reference.

The NBP president said he came to know in 2016 that as many as seven accounts were being operated in his name. His signatures were faked to open such accounts, he claimed.

A NAB prosecutor argued that millions of rupees were transacted into the foreign currency accounts, which were operated from 1997 to 2006.

He expressed surprise how come the NBP president was not in the know about these accounts having been opened in his name.