Court orders auction of Ishaq Dar’s assets

ISLAMABAD: The Accountability Court on Tuesday ordered the auction of former finance minister Ishaq Dar’s movable and immovable assets and seize his bank accounts in Pakistan as it allowed the provincial government to take possession of Dar’s assets

Accountability Court-II judge Muhammad Bashir has announced decision on the application filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to sell off Dar’s assets and asking the court to appoint a beneficiary of recovered amount.

In its order Accountability Court has said that the provincial government will be responsible for auction and empowered the provincial government to decide whether to sell or keep the seized assets.

NAB has filed a petition and sought permission to sell off assets of former finance minister Ishaq Dar, who was already declared as absconder by the Accountability Court. The former finance minister has been in London since October 2017 for his medical treatment. The accountability court already declared him an absconder in the corruption reference against him.

NAB Special Prosecutor Imran Shafiq filed petition which sought the permission to sell all assets held by Dar in Pakistan state that more than six months have passed but the accused (Ishaq Dar) has consciously and intentionally disappeared in order to avoid the process issued by this court.

The petition said that the accused pretended his ailment, but he is taking active part to perform his daily pursuits. He has failed to appear and justify his inability based on valid grounds. According to NAB, former finance Minister Ishaq Dar assets include two Mercedes Benz vehicles, three Land Cruisers and one Toyota Corolla. Out of the two Land Cruisers, one is in the name of his wife, Tabassum Ishaq Dar.

He owns a two-kanal plot in Parliament Enclave, another two-Kanal plot with Ayaz Builders (Pvt) Ltd, six-acre land in federal capital’s Mauza Milot area, three plots in Lahore’s Alfalah Housing Society, a house in Lahore’s Gulberg, a plot in Mauza Bhubtian measuring two-Kanal 19-marla and a plot in the Senate Cooperative Housing Society, Islamabad.