- The accountability court hearing has been rescheduled for November.
- Ishaq FinMin Dar has filed three pleas.
- Dar has also asked the court to clear him.
ISLAMABAD: A court of accountability relaxed the necessity that Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar appear in person in a case concerning assets beyond his means on Monday.
Dar, who was physically present in Judge Mohammad Basheer’s courtroom, made three arguments through his attorney, two of which were about exemption.
The other two were asset separation and acquittal. The judge, however, accepted the exemption plea and directed the counsel to provide reasons for the others at a later hearing.
The court subsequently rescheduled the hearing on November 16th.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) charged the minister of finance and revenue in December 2017 with possessing assets that were out of proportion to his reported sources of income.
On July 28, 2017, in reaction to the Supreme Court’s verdict in the Panama Papers case, NAB filed a reference against the PML-N leader.
The accountability court had dubbed Dar a proclaimed criminal due to his continuous absence from sessions; nevertheless, when Dar appeared before the court in October, the court delayed its arrest orders.
After the coalition government was created, the PML-self-exiled N’s leader, who had been in London for five years, returned home to become finance czar.
Furthermore, despite winning a technocrat seat in the Senate election on March 3, 2018, he only recently took the oath of office.
Dar has been adamant since his arrival that Pakistan’s economy must be repaired, that the dollar’s value relative to the rupee must decline, and that the PTI-led government is to responsible for the country’s deteriorating situation.
