Interpol rejects Pakistan's request for Red Notice against Ishaq Dar

LONDON: The International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol) has rejected a request by the Pakistan government to issue a red arrest warrant notice against Ishaq Dar, the former finance minister of Pakistan.

This correspondent has seen papers which show that the Interpol General Secretariat has informed all Interpol’s National Central Bureaus (NCBs) to delete all data files in their systems on Ishaq Dar, issuing him a clean certificate that he is not subject to “an Interpol Red Notice or diffusion”.

Interpol sources confirmed to Geo News that Pakistan government through the interior ministry had requested the Interpol to issue red arrest warrant for the former finance minister, who now lives in London, but Interpol decided to reject the request after evaluating the evidence submitted by Mr Dar.

In a letter referenced LA/72615-260, the Interpol has issued a certificate to Ishaq Dar about its decision confirming that he’s not subject to any red notice. “The General Secretariat of the International Criminal Police Organisation-Interpol hereby certifies that, as of today, Mr Mohammad Ishaq Dar born on 13 May 1950, is not subject to an Interpol Notice or diffusion.”

Official sources say the Office of Legal Affairs of General Secretariat of Interpol in Lyon, France, has issued the certificate.

The decision to delete files on Ishaq Dar was taken during the 109th session of the Commission for the Control of Interpol’s files.

One of the official papers stated: “After a thorough examination of the elements before it, the Commission found that the data challenged raised questions as to compliance with applicable rules. As a result, it considered that the retention of these data in the Interpol Information System was not compliant with Interpol’s rules and decided that they should be deleted. This decision was forwarded to the Interpol General Secretariat which deleted the data challenged from Interpol’s files.”

The Interpol’s General Secretariat has informed all Interpol NCBs that, following the decision made by the Commission for the Control of Interpol files, the General Secretariat has deleted the data relating to Ishaq Dar. 

The Interpol has confirmed that in the case of Ishaq Dar “all international police cooperation via Interpol’s channels in this case would not be in conformity with Interpol’s Constitution and Rules”.

According to official papers, the Interpol General Secretariat has urged all NCBs to update their national databases accordingly by deleting any data pertaining to Ishaq Dar in their system “as well as to verify that the same is done by all national entities that have access to Interpol information”.

Reliable sources, who shared information on the condition of anonymity, say that Ishaq Dar provided evidence to Interpol and British authorities that his name was neither in Panama Leaks nor in Supreme Court (SC) judgement of 20th April 2017. He shared with the authorities that the Panama Joint Investigation Team (JIT) transgressed the mandate of SC and filed an unfounded, mala fide and false report to the SC stating that Ishaq Dar had not filed tax returns in Pakistan for 20 years (1981-2001) with consequential challenging of the legitimacy of his large charitable donations and six years tax non-resident period in Pakistan. He told the authorities that he never missed filing of any tax return in 34 years ended on 30th June 2017.

Moreover, JIT also concealed the fact that NAB had 22 years (to 30th June 2007) tax record of Ishaq Dar, and after due process NAB closed the investigation in September 2016, and had issued him a clearance letter. He told the Interpol authorities that JIT misled the SC and got an order for filling a reference against him for “assets beyond known sources”, which was tantamount to deceiving the SC and led to the subversion and prevention of justice in his case.

Ishaq Dar has told authorities, according to the source, that the incumbent PTI government is subjecting him to political persecution and victimisation.