Guarantor seeks 3 weeks to present 'absconding' Ishaq Dar before court

ISLAMABAD: A guarantor for absconding former finance minister Ishaq Dar requested an accountability court on Friday to grant three weeks’ time to present him before it in a reference filed against him by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

Dar has been accused of amassing wealth beyond his known sources of income in the reference filed against him in compliance with the Supreme Court’s July 28 verdict in the Panama Papers.

Earlier this week, the court declared the former finance minister an absconder and issued a show cause notice to his guarantor to explain as why his surety bonds worth Rs5 million should not confiscated for failing to ensure presence of the accused in the court.

Guarantor Ahmed Ali Quddusi filed a reply to the show-cause notice, requesting the court to grant three weeks to produce Dar before it.

The hearing was adjourned till Nov 29 when the court would hear arguments on whether or not to confiscate the surety bonds.

Dar, who is currently in London, skipped the hearing on November 21 despite issuance of non-bailable warrants for his arrest, promoting the court to declare him an absconder in the case.

At the previous hearing, the court granted a request by the NAB prosecution team to initiate proceedings to declare Ishaq Dar as a proclaimed offender in the assets reference.

Investigation Officer Nadir Abbas submitted a compliance report, stating that he visited the accused person’s Lahore and Islamabad residences to execute non-bailable warrants, but he remained elusive.

Advocate Hussain Mufti, the counsel for the minister, submitted his client’s medical report, informing the judge that he is to undergo a medical check-up on November 27 and the doctors have barred him from travelling.

NAB prosecutor Imran Shafiq pointed out some discrepancies in two medical reports submitted in the court, saying the first one claimed that a blood vessel leading to the ailing minister’s heart had ruptured and he had a history of the illness, but the latest report claimed otherwise.

As per the second report, Dar was experiencing certain symptoms and would undergo a series of tests to diagnose the disease, he added.

He informed the court that the accountability bureau has approached the foreign ministry for verification of the medical reports.