Dar couldn’t justify his assets: Wajid

ISLAMABAD: During investigation, Ishaq Dar could not prove his assets justified as he did not disclose the source of his £5.5 million investment that he had made in Baraq Holdings Company (BHC) UK and said that it was privileged information that he did not want to divulge.

This was told by Wajid Zia, the head of Joint Investigation Team (JIT) formed to probe the Panama issue by the apex Supreme Court of Pakistan.Wajid Zia here Monday recorded his statement before the Accountability Court (AC) in connection with the corruption reference ‘Assets & Funds beyond Known Sources of Income’ that is pending against Senator Ishaq Dar.

Wajid Zia said that the Supreme Court of Pakistan through its judgment dated April 20, 2017 had formed a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) that he was heading with Amir Aziz of State Bank of Pakistan, Nauman Saeed of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Kamran Khursheed of Military Intelligence, Bilal Rasool from Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and Irfan Mangi of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) as its members.

“For investigation into the Ishaq Dar's assets, we obtained record from SECP, Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) and Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). As per 1992-93 wealth statement of Ishaq Dar, his net assets were worth Rs9.1 million. Whereas his wealth statement of 2008-09, reveals a net worth of Rs831.6 million that is 91 times increase. In 2005 wealth statement that Dar submitted under Representation of People Act (ROPA), it showed an amount of £5.5 million investment in Baraq Holdings Company. In 2008-09 statement, Dar showed in his wealth statement that he provided a loan of £4.9 million pounds to his sons,” he said.

Zia said that Ishaq Dar could provide no information about the source of his initial £5.5 million and said that it was privileged information and he did not want to divulge. According to Zia, this investment and loan led to foreign remittances sent by Dar's sons from United Arab Emirates (UAE) between 2006 and 2015-16. In wealth statement Dar showed these remittances as gifts and loan repayment. On this account, Dar received a total of Rs627 million. These remittances prima facie became source of Dar's income and asset build up and his income increased from 0.7 million rupees to 46 million rupees in 2015-16. Primarily, Dar could provide no justification for his initial investment of £5.5 million.

Zia said that JIT submitted its final report before Supreme Court on July 10, 2017. JIT concluded that Ishaq Dar's assets were disproportionate to his known sources of income. JIT volume I contain summary of the investigation while volume IX contain details, Zia told the court.

To a question by the prosecution whether he recorded his statement to NAB, Zia said that he recorded his statement on August 30, 2017 before the investigation officer of this case, Nadir Abbas.

Earlier when the case was called for hearing in the morning, a NAB prosecutor Imran Shafique told the court to adjourn this matter till 11:30 as Wajid Zia had to get original JIT record from the registrar Supreme Court. Later Wajid Zia arrived at AC with the original report and recorded his statement. AC later put off hearing in this matter till Feb 14 when Nadir Abbas and Inamul Haq, Project Director Alflah Cooperative Housing Society would record their statements.