ISLAMABAD: The assets-beyond-means reference against former finance minister Ishaq Dar has been revived and an accountability court on Tuesday summoned him for October 10.

Accountability court judge Mohammad Bashir will take up the case.

The same court had on Nov 22 last year closed the proceedings on the reference and returned the case file to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

The accountability court also revived the references against former National Bank of Pakistan president Saeed Ahmed, Naeem Mehmood and Mansoor Raza Rizvi.

Accountability court summons ex-finance minister on Oct 10

The references against the accused were closed pursuant to amendments to the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) introduced earlier last year.

The court had on Dec 11, 2017 declared Ishaq Dar a proclaimed offender and attached his movable and immovable properties. It had also cancelled his perpetual arrest warrant upon his surrender on October 10.

A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court had on July 28, 2017, while taking up petitions filed by PTI Chairman Imran Khan and Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rashid, disqualified then prime minister Nawaz Sharif for not disclosing his salary that he did not draw from his son’s company, and constituted a joint investigation team (JIT), headed by then additional director general of the Federal Investigation Agency Wajid Zia, to probe the assets of the Sharif family and Ishaq Dar.

The JIT prepared four references — three against the Sharif family and one against Mr Dar — and filed them in the accountability court that year.

As per the prosecution, Mr Dar’s assets had grown manifold from Rs9.1 million in 1982-83 to Rs831.6m in 2008.

An SC bench, headed by former chief justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial, had on Sept 15 declared the amendments to the NAO void ab initio, paving the way for revival of dozens of references closed in pursuant to the amendments.

The Supreme Court directed NAB to revive the closed cases in seven days.

NAB sources said the cases disposed of under the amended law have been returned to the accountability courts of Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Quetta.

In addition to the reference against Ishaq Dar, the cases transmitted to the accountability courts included the Park Lane case against former president Asif Ali Zardari, the Universal Services Funds case in which former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and others were the accused, the case of rental power projects against ex-PM Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, and against former chairperson of the Benazir Income Support Programme Farzana Raja.

The reference against former PM Shaukat Aziz and fake accounts case against Mr Zardari and Omni Group’s directors have also been revived.

Published in Dawn, September 27th, 2023