Court issues arrest warrant for Pakistan’s finance minister

Pakistan’s accountability court issued an arrest warrant for Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Monday.
Dar is charged with failing to appear before the anti-graft court in a corruption case linked to the Panama Papers leak which has also led to cases against ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his children.
The court indicted Dar last month on charges of owning assets “beyond his known sources of income which he could not reasonably account for.”
“The accused has acquired assets and pecuniary interests/resources in his own name and/or in the name of his dependents of an approximate amount of Rs 831.678 million (approx),” the National Accountability Bureau said in its case against Dar.
Dar’s counsel, Khawaja Haris, filed an application to exempt Dar from the hearing, telling the court that his client had fallen ill and had to be taken to London for a medical check-up.
The NAB’s prosecutor opposed the application, calling it “delaying tactics.” Judge Mohammed Bashir rejected the exemption application and issued a bailable arrest warrant for Dar, directing him to appear before the court on Nov. 2.
Haris maintains that the prosecution has exaggerated Dar’s assets; in a previous hearing, Haris claimed that the first of two Dubai properties listed in Dar’s name was actually sold to buy the second property.
Dar has also argued that the sudden increase in his assets that led to the investigation was a result of remuneration received while serving as financial adviser to the UAE’s minister of culture.
“The NAB is in touch with the UAE authorities to get (financial) details of Ishaq Dar and his family members,” an NAB official told Arab News. “Whatever information we … get will be shared with the court at an appropriate time."
The NAB has already frozen Dar’s assets and properties, along with those of his family members and dependents.
Pakistan’s leading opposition parties, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) have demanded the finance minister step down.
“Ishaq Dar is the first finance minister in Pakistan’s history for whom the court has issued arrest warrants,” PPP senator and former Finance Minister Salim Mandviwala told Arab News. “Dar should immediately resign.”
PTI's Information Secretary Shafqat Mahmood told Arab News that Pakistan’s economy was suffering because of the finance minister’s embroilment in the corruption case.
“We demand Ishaq Dar leave his office as soon as possible,” he said. “The government should stop playing with the country's economy and appoint a new finance minister.”
If convicted, Dar could face up to 14 years in prison and lifelong disqualification from holding public office, as well as the freezing of all his bank accounts and financial assets.

Source:Arabnews