NAB writes to DC Lahore to auction Ishaq Dar’s ‘Hajveri House’

LAHORE: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has written a letter to the deputy commissioner Lahore to auction the house of former finance minister Ishaq Dar, having an approximate worth of Rs250 million.

Reports said the NAB Lahore has written a letter to the DC Lahore, and a copy of which is available with The News, after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had dismissed an appeal filed by the wife of former finance minister Ishaq Dar against the auction of the property.

A division bench, comprising Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani and Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz, had dismissed the petition of Tabassum Ishaq Dar and also withdrew the stay order issued against the auction of Dar’s house, known as ‘Hajveri House’.

Earlier, an accountability court had permitted the NAB to auction the properties belonging to the former finance minister. The court had rejected the plea of Dar’s wife, as she failed to prove in the court that the Gulberg, Lahore, property belonged to her, because the former finance minister had gifted this house to her. However, later, she had obtained a stay order on auction of the property, which had now been vacated by the Islamabad High Court.

During the investigations against Ishaq Dar, the Bureau had also seized other properties of Dar, including a house in Lahore, three plots in Al-Falah Housing Society, six acres of land in Islamabad, a two-kanal plot in Parliamentarians Enclave, a plot in the Senate Cooperative Housing Society, another plot of two kanals and nine marlas in Islamabad and six vehicles. The accountability court, in its judgment dated on October 15, 2018, had ordered to auction Ishaq Dar’s properties.

In the reference, the bureau had alleged that the accused acquired assets and pecuniary interests/ resources in his name and/ or in the name of his dependents of an approximate amount of Rs831.678 million. The reference alleged that the assets were ‘disproportionate to Dar’s known sources of income’. The former finance minister was already declared as proclaimed offender by the court due to his continuous absence in the hearing of the case.