ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has decided to file a fresh case against Finance Minister Ishaq Dar with the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), seeking the reopening of a corruption case worth over Rs130 billion, which was closed down 10 days ago.

According to a PTI spokesperson, party workers will hold a protest outside the NAB headquarters on Monday to press the bureau to reopen Mr Dar’s case as well as carry out across-the-board accountability against the corruption plaguing the country.

On July 15, the NAB officially announced it had acquitted Mr Dar and closed the investigation, which was opened in the year 2000. “We have decided to file a case against Ishaq Dar and all legal requirements have been completed,” senior PTI leader Arif Alvi told Dawn on Sunday.

According to the PTI’s plan, a rally will be taken out from the party’s central secretariat on Embassy Road in Sector G-6, which will turn into a public meeting outside the NAB headquarters, located down the road. The PTI’s central leadership is expected to lead the demonstration. However, party chief Imran Khan will not be in attendance.

Party will demonstrate outside bureau’s office to make sure it isn’t ignored

The party said it would file the case during the demonstration so that NAB could not ignore this matter.

Mr Alvi said NAB had failed to pursue cases of 600 Pakistanis whose names had been disclosed in the Panama Papers leaks as owners of offshore companies. “If NAB is reluctant to follow cases against politicians, which are around 5pc of all cases, then why it has not served notices on the other people so far,” he asked.

He claimed that the heads of NAB, State Bank of Pakistan, Federal Board of Revenue and Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan had been summoned to a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the National Assembly, to be held this week, to explain what they had done on cases related to the Panamagate leaks.

Talking about the PTI’s demonstration plan, Mr Alvi said: “The party has no intention to observe a sit-in outside the NAB headquarters and protesters will disperse after registering their protest.”

On July 15, a NAB statement announced that it had “decided to close investigation against Mohammad Ishaq Dar, Federal Minister for Finance and ex-Minister for Commerce, which was pending for closure since 2001, due to lack of incriminating evidence”.

The closing down of the case sparked criticism of the government and NAB, which prompted the latter to issue another official press release on July 17, justifying its decision.

On that occasion, a NAB spokesperson claimed that a case involving the PTI was also closed on the same day when Mr Dar was given a clean chit.

Published in Dawn, July 25th, 2016