Court issues bailable warrants for Finance Minister Ishaq Dar after no-show

• Published date: 31 October 2017
• Publication title: Regional Times

The accountability court hearing the corruption reference against Finance Minister Ishaq Dar issued bailable warrants for the minister today after the accused did not appear in court. Dar has been ordered to appear in court at the next hearing on November 2. The minister is accused by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) of possessing assets which are disproportionate to his declared sources of income. As the hearing went under way, Dar's counsel Khawaja Harris pleaded before Accountability Court Judge Mohammad Bashir to grant his client exemption from appearance today as he is in London for medical tests. The counsel also submitted Dar' medical report and assured he would appear in court on Thursday. The judge then reserved his decision on the plea after the NAB opposed the request and sought warrants for the finance minister's production. The NAB prosecutor argued that the accused should have sought the court's permission before leaving the country.

Announcing the decision, the accountability court dismissed Dar's exemption plea and issued bailable warrants for his arrest. The court also issued a notice to Dar's guarantor - who has submitted the surety bond - and ordered Dar to appear in court on November 2. The finance minister, a close associate of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, left for a conference in Tajikistan on Friday and reportedly then travelled to Jeddah where he fell ill. From there he went to London where his medical tests will be performed today. Interestingly, Nawaz was also in Jeddah over the weekend and is now in London to chair a high-level party huddle which will be attended by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, and Nawaz's brother and Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif, among other government and party officials. Dar has appeared before the court seven times since the trial began, missing only the first hearing on September 20.

At the last hearing on October 23, the court had continued with recording statements of NAB's witnesses - Abdul Rehman Gondal of Allied Bank and Masoodul Ghani of Habib Bank Limited. Today, Azeem Khan of Bank Al Falah and Faisal Shehzad of Habib Metropolitan Bank were expected to record their statements and Harris to complete the cross-examination of the previous witnesses as well. However, all four witnesses will now reappear in court on Thursday...