An Islamabad accountability court on Friday cancelled Finance Minister Ishaq Dar\u2019s arrest warrant in the assets beyond means case filed against him by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
\nThe cancellation orders were issued after the minister appeared before Accountability court judge Muhammad Bashir with his lawyer Qazi Misbah. The court also directed the minister to submit surety bonds of Rs1 million.
\nAt the outset of the hearing, Misbah asked the court to permanently cancel his client’s arrest warrant and the order to confiscate his assets.
\nThe lawyer told the court that it had issued the arrest warrants so Dar appears before the court, adding that they should be cancelled now as the minister is present before the court.
\n\u201cDid NAB also issue arrest warrants of Ishaq Dar,\u201d Judge Bashir asked the anti-corruption watchdog\u2019s prosecutor.
\nAnti-graft\u2019s body responded in the affirmative but clarified that the warrants were suspended.
\n\u201cWhat is your point of view now, should the warrants be cancelled or not?\u201d asked the judge.
\nAt this question, the NAB prosecutor supported the cancellation of warrants, adding that they were issued to ensure Dar\u2019s appearance in the case.
\nThe judge then remarked that it will have to indict Dar once again as a supplementary reference has also been filed against him.
\nTo this, Dar\u2019s lawyer stated that they will give arguments on the supplementary reference.
\nBefore adjourning the case till October 12, the court issued notices to NAB over the application filed against the confiscation of Dar\u2019s property and permanent exemption from appearance.
\nThe court has ordered NAB to present its arguments at the next hearing on both applications.
\nArrest warrant suspended
\nLast week, the court had suspended the arrest warrants of Dar till October 7.
\nJudge Mohammad Bashir had issued the orders and directed the authorities to not arrest the minister upon his arrival in Pakistan.
\nThe judge had said that once Dar returns to Pakistan, the court will see whether it should revoke his arrest orders or not.
\n“The arrest warrants will be permanently suspended once Dar appears before the court in person,” the judge had said.
\nDar moved the accountability court after the Supreme Court dismissed his appeal in a corruption case following his decision to withdraw the plea.
\nIn 2017, an accountability court, while hearing a corruption reference against Dar, declared him a proclaimed offender due to his continued absence from the proceedings.
\nThe national anti-graft watchdog accused Dar of possessing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.
\nThe case was filed by NAB in light of the Supreme Court’s July 28 verdict in the Panama Papers case.
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