ISLAMABAD: At a time when the accountability court has recorded testimonies of 29 out of 30 witnesses against former finance minister Ishaq Dar in the assets reference, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has prepared a supplementary reference against him, which is likely to be filed on Monday (tomorrow).

The accountability court has fixed Feb 28 as the date for recording testimony of the last prosecution witness — Nadir Abbasi, an assistant director of NAB — in the assets case.

However with the filing of the supplementary reference, it would be difficult for accountability court Judge Mohammad Bashir to conclude proceedings within the six-month timeframe set by the Supreme Court, which is going to expire before mid-March.

NAB sources told Dawn that the competent authority had approved the filing of the supplementary reference against Mr Dar, who is already facing ex-parte trial proceedings in the reference related to owning assets beyond his known sources of income.

The bureau has taken this decision at a time when the trial has almost been concluded as out of 30 prosecution witnesses, the accountability court has recorded testimonies of 29 witnesses, including Wajid Zia, the head of the six-member joint investigation team (JIT) constituted by the apex court in the Panama Papers case. The JIT comprised officials of the Inter-Services Intelligence, Military Intelligence, Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, State Bank of Pakistan and NAB.

The filing of the supplementary reference might delay the conclusion of the trial proceedings for a couple of weeks, the sources said.

According to them, NAB has cited additional 15 witnesses in the supplementary reference.

Since the response to requests to some foreign countries for mutual legal assistance was still awaited, the supplementary reference would be filed without any evidence from any foreign jurisdiction, the sources said. However, the court would be told that such evidence would be placed on its record upon receipt.

The accountability court has already declared Mr Dar a proclaimed offender and attached his bank accounts and other properties.

The Supreme Court on April 20, 2017 ordered constitution of the JIT to conduct an investigation against then prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his family members as well as Mr Dar in the light of Panama Papers revelations. After completing the investigation, the JIT submitted a report to the apex court on July 10. The court on July 28 directed NAB to prepare references against Mr Sharif, his family members and Mr Dar and file them in the accountability court. Justice Ijazul Ahsan as the supervisor judge is monitoring the progress of the trial proceedings.

According to the JIT report, Mr Dar owned assets worth Rs9.1 million in 1982-1983. His assets increased manifold in a few years as in 2008, he declared assets worth Rs831.6m.

Subsequently, the JIT concluded that Mr Dar possessed assets which were disproportionate to and beyond his known sources of income.

NAB has seized all of Mr Dar’s moveable and immoveable assets, including a house in Gulberg III, Lahore; three plots in Al-Falah Housing Society, Lahore; six acres of land in Islamabad; a two-kanal plot in the Parliamentarians Enclave, Islamabad; a plot in the Senate Cooperative Housing Society, Islamabad; another plot measuring two kanals and nine marlas in Islamabad and six vehicles.

NAB alleges that Mr Dar has acquired in his name and/or in the names of his dependants assets worth Rs831.7m, which is disproportionate to his known sources of income.

Published in Dawn, February 25th, 2018