- The NAB had “re-opened” the case following the Supreme Court’s ruling on NAB laws.
- The case was registered by the anti-corruption watchdog in December 2017.
- NAB gives clean chit to PML-N leader in corruption case.
ISLAMABAD: An accountability court on Monday acquitted senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Ishaq Dar in a disproportionate assets case.
The former finance minister was acquitted after the court accepted his acquittal plea following a “clean chit” given by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
Following the Supreme Court of Pakistan’s decision to declare the amendments to NAB laws invalid, the anti-corruption watchdog once again “reopened” the disproportionate assets case against Dar.
NAB had submitted records of the disproportionate assets case against the PML-N veteran leader in the Islamabad Accountability Court.
However, in November last year the same accountability court had quashed criminal proceedings against Dar in the case.
While ending the case, the court had remarked that after the National Accountability (Second Amendment) Act 2022, it no longer has the authority to hear the case or issue judgment on petitions seeking acquittal.
Judge Bashir said, “We can neither announce a verdict in favor of NAB nor issue a verdict in favor of the suspect. The trial against Ishaq Dar ends here.”
Courts across the country had returned the cases after the government amended the National Accountability Ordinance 1999 as many cases no longer fall under their jurisdiction.
NAB had registered a case against Dar in December 2017, accusing him of possessing assets disproportionate to his declared sources of income.
A case was filed against the PML-N leader by NAB in the light of the Supreme Court’s July 28, 2017 judgment in the Panama Papers case.
The accountability court had also declared Dar a proclaimed offender due to his continued absence from proceedings – but in October 2022, the court suspended his arrest warrant after he appeared before it.
The PML-N leader lived in London for five years in self-exile and after the formation of the coalition government, but last year he returned to the country to take charge as finance minister.
