ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Monday challenged his indictment by the accountability court in a corruption reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against him for possessing assets beyond known sources of income in the Islamabad High Court (IHC).
The accountability court judge and NAB chairman have been made respondents in the petition filed by the finance minister. The petition filed by Dar through his counsel Khawaja Harris is based on the ground that he was not granted the minimum seven days period to review the material provided to him last Monday. The petition states that under Section 265-C of the Code of Criminal Procedure, applicable to the accountability court proceedings, the documents are to be provided to the accused ‘not later than seven days before the commencement of trial’. A two-member division bench of the IHC, comprising Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Mian Gul Hassan Aurgenzeb, will begin hearing the finance minister’s petition today. Last week, the court had rejected a request by Dar’s counsel, Amjad Pervez, to grant them seven days to peruse the record, saying that since the Supreme Court had set a six-month deadline, he could not adjourn proceedings for a week.
On September 18, NAB wrote to the State Bank of Pakistan to remind it that since a reference was pending against him, the bank accounts of Dar may be cautioned. The NAB has also written to district governments, asking them to stop any transfer or disposal of the properties owned by Dar, warning that in case of non-compliance they could face up to three years in prison under the National Accountability Ordinance.
Published in Daily Times, October 3rd 2017.
