(Image source from: Siasat.com)
Pak Finance Minister Appears Before Accountability Court:- Pakistan’s ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s close aide and embattled Finance Minister Ishaq Dar (67) appeared on Monday before an anti-corruption court in Islamabad. This is the seventh time in his trial in a graft case in the Panama Papers scandal.
Two new witnesses against the minister were presented by the anti-corruption watchdog National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecution at Monday’s hearing, reported a leading news channel.
Following the July 28 verdict of the Supreme Court in the Panama Papers case that indicted Mr. Sharif and his family, a case had been filed by the NAB on September 8 against Mr. Dar. Sharif was disqualified by the apex court, and ordered corruption cases against him, his children Maryam, Husain and Hasan and son-in-law Muhammad Safdar.
Abdul Rehman Gondal, branch manager of a private bank’s parliament branch and the first witness has completed his statement. He is being cross-examined by Mr. Dar’s counsel Khawaja Haris, the report said. The account details held by Mr. Dar have been provided by Gondal. He informed the court that on August 16, the NAB had summoned him along with relevant documents. He further stated that he submitted the requisite record to NAB’s investigating officer, concerning Dar.
Gondal said he had provided bank statements of Mr. Dar ranging from March 25, 2005 to August 16, 2017 to NAB. The details of the bank transactions, given by the witness, were made part of case record by the court, said the report.
Masood Ghani, the operations manager in a private bank, and the second witness, will give his testimony later in the day. On Wednesday, after the minister’s senior counsel left the country in a rush, the court had adjourned the hearing of the graft cases till October 23.
Al-Baraka Islamic Bank’s Assistant Vice President Tariq Javed and the prosecution’s third witness was cross-questioned by Haris, in the preceding hearing of the case. Last month, the court had indicted Mr. Dar in a NAB case pertaining to his owning assets “beyond his known sources of income”.
The anti-graft court had indicted Sharif, his daughter and son-in-law in a corruption case, on October 19, related to the Avenfield properties in London. This was one of the three cases registered by the NAB against Sharif, his children and son-in-law on September 8, in the Accountability Court in Islamabad.
SUPRAJA
