Dar assets case: Court dismisses pleas of co-accused, orders indictment on March 27

ISLAMABAD: The accountability court hearing the illegal assets accumulation case against Senator Ishaq Dar dismissed on Tuesday a plea of the co-accused to quash their impending indictment and ordered the framing of charges on March 27.

Judge Mohammad Bashir, who is presiding over the case, had on March 5 ordered to indict National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) President Saeed Ahmed, Naeem Mehmood and Mansoor Rizvi on March 12. 

The three have been accused in the supplementary reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against the former finance minister, who has been absconding in the case since October last year.

Two of the three accused later petitioned the court against their planned indictment. Moreover, the NBP president also challenged his nomination as an accused and pleaded the court to dismiss it for lack of evidence.

Hearing the case today, the court dismissed the pleas of the co-accused and ruled that they be indicted on March 27. 

Dar assets case: Court reserves decision on suspects' plea against indictment

Judge hears plea of other accused against their indictment today

The counsel of the accused said after the order that they will challenge the decision in a high court once the detailed judgment is released. 

The case

Dar, a close aide of Pakistan Muslim League-N chief Nawaz Sharif, is accused of possessing assets disproportionate to his declared sources of income.

NAB filed an interim reference against Dar in September last year in light of the Supreme Court's July 28, 2017, verdict in the Panama Papers case.

The recently-filed supplementary reference is based on seven volumes and includes the account details of the accused persons, with transactions amounting to $4.06 million, according to NAB's Special Prosecutor Imran Shafiq. 

The three accused in the supplementary reference are identified as directors of Dar's companies.

Dar was recently re-elected to the Senate of Pakistan. He has been in London on medical grounds since October last year.