Accountability court to announce verdict on Ishaq Dar's acquittal plea tomorrow

ISLAMABAD: An accountability court in the federal capital reserved its verdict on Monday on Finance Minister Ishaq Dar's petition seeking his acquittal in a National Accountability Bureau (NAB) case related to assets beyond his known source of income.

Last week, the finance minister submitted three pleas, including the one pertaining to exemption, through his legal counsel. 

After a brief hearing, the court accepted the minister’s plea for exemption from personal appearance.

Accountability court Judge Mohammad Bashir resumed hearing on the petition today. After hearing arguments from all sides, the judge reserved his verdict.

The verdict will be announced tomorrow.

The case

In December 2017, the (NAB filed a case against the minister, accusing him of possessing assets disproportionate to his declared sources of income.

A reference against the PML-N leader was filed by NAB in light of the Supreme Court's July 28, 2018, verdict in the Panama Papers case.

Dar had also been declared a proclaimed offender by the accountability court due to his continuous absence from the proceedings — but in October, the court suspended his arrest warrants after he appeared before it.

The self-exiled PML-N leader was residing in London for five years and after the formation of the coalition government, he came back to the country to take charge as the finance czar.

Not only that, but he also took oath as the Senator recently despite being elected on a technocrat seat in the Senate election on March 3, 2018.