NAB files supplementary reference against Ishaq Dar in assets case

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Monday filed a supplementary reference against former finance minister Ishaq Dar in a case pertaining to alleged accumulation of assets beyond his known sources of income.

The supplementary reference nominated three new suspects along with the PML-N leader and included over 10 new prosecution witnesses who will testify against the accused persons.

Three suspects included former National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) president Saeed Ahmed, Mansoor Raza and Naeem Mehmood.

Meanwhile, Accountability Judge Muhammad Bashir summoned the three accused on next hearing on February 28.

The reference has been filed at a time when the accountability court in the federal capital has almost concluded the trial proceedings as it has recorded the statements of 29 out of 30 witnesses.

The reference is likely to delay conclusion of the trial and make it difficult for the trial court to meet a six-month deadline set by the Supreme Court.

Wajid Zia, head of the Supreme Court-appointed JIT to probe the Sharif family’s wealth, is among the witnesses who have testified in the case so far.

Wajid Zia submitted the Volume I and IX of the JIT report to the judge.

He informed the court that the former finance minister’s assets were around Rs 9.1 million in 1999 as per his wealth statement, which increased to Rs831.6 million in 2008-09.

He stated that Dar failed to provide any proof to the JIT to justify how his assets multiplied by leaps and bounds in a decade.

According to the NAB reference, Dar had acquired assets and pecuniary interests/resources in his name or in the name of his dependents of an approximate amount of Rs831.678 million as per the investigation conducted so far.