ISLAMABAD: An accountability court, which was directed by the Supreme Court in July last year to conclude references against disqualified prime minister Nawaz Sharif and defunct finance minister Ishaq Dar within six months, was informed on Thursday that the registrar office of the apex court was yet to hand over the record either to the accountability court or the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

As a result, the testimony of star witness Wajid Zia, the head of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) constituted by the Supreme Court, against the former finance minister was deferred till Feb 12.

Mr Zia, the additional director general of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), headed the JIT which comprised officials of Inter-Services Intelligence, Military Intelligence, NAB, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan and the State Bank of Pakistan.

The JIT had recommended filing of references against Mr Sharif and Mr Dar in the accountability court. Subsequently, the Supreme Court directed NAB to prepare references and file them with a directive to the accountability court to conclude the trial in six months.

NAB had filed the references before the accountability court in September last year.

On Jan 31 this year, NAB requested the accountability court to requisition the JIT’s report along with the relevant record from the Supreme Court as Wajid Zia was expected to appear before the accountability court on Feb 8.

Accountability judge Mohammad Bashir requisitioned the record from the SC registrar office on Feb 2.

NAB’s special prosecutor Imran Shafique informed the court that volumes 1 and 9(a) of the JIT report were required for NAB’s reference against Mr Dar wherein he has been accused of amassing assets beyond known sources of his income.

The accountability court has declared Mr Dar a proclaimed offender and is conducting ex parte proceedings against him, and 26 out of the total 30 witnesses have so far recorded their statements.

In an application requisitioning the JIT report, the NAB prosecutor has said that the SC constituted the JIT to investigate the Panama Papers leaks on April 20 last year. He stated that the JIT collected voluminous material, recorded numerous statements, prepared its exhaustive report and submitted them to the SC.

Mr Shafique also maintained that the JIT report was part of the reference against Mr Dar as the Supreme Court had directed that references be filed on the basis of evidence collected by the JIT.

Published in Dawn, February 9th, 2018