Dar’s assets to be auctioned

COURT DIRECTS AUTHORITIES TO SEIZE ABSCONDING EX-FINANCE MINISTER’S BANK ACCOUNTS

An anti-corruption court yesterday directed authorities to auction the assets of absconding former finance minister Ishaq Dar and also seize his bank accounts in connection with a graft case filed against him in the Panama Papers scandal.

The case about owning “assets beyond known means of income” is among four graft cases filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) following the Supreme Court’s order of July 28 against Dar and ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his family.

The decision came on an application filed by the NAB, seeking the auction of Dar’s assets and asking the court to appoint a beneficiary to get the recovered amount, Dawn newspaper reported.

The court said that Punjab’s provincial government will be responsible for auction. It empowered the provincial government to decide whether to sell or keep the seized assets, the report said.

Judge Mohammad Bashir had reserved the verdict on the application on Monday after the anti-graft watchdog submitted details of Dar’s assets.

The NAB had earlier moved the Islamabad-based accountability court for the auction of movable and immovable properties owned by Dar, a close aide of Sharif, who has been in London since October 2017.

Dar, the father-in-law of Sharif’s younger daughter, was declared an absconder in the corruption case after he went to London in October last year but never came back to face the trial.

The case was initiated in September 2017 on the orders of Supreme Court after it disqualified Sharif and ordered corruption cases against him, his children Maryam Nawaz, Husain and Hasan and son-in-law (retd) Captain Mohammad Safdar.