Panamagate: Pak court issues non-bailable warrant against finance minister Ishaq Dar
A Pakistani anti-graft court on Monday issued a bailable arrest warrant against Finance Minister Ishaq Dar after he failed to appear before it in a corruption case spiralling from the Panama Papers scandal.
The Accountability Court in Islamabad dismissed 67-year- old Dar’s application seeking exemption from personal appearance in the case hearing.
His counsel Khawaja Haris appeared in the court of judge Muhammad Bashir and sought Dar’s exemption from appearance as he was in London to seek medical treatment.
But the court rejected the plea and issued the bailable arrest warrant and ordered him to appear in the next hearing on November 2.
The case was filed against Dar by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) following a verdict by the Supreme Court, which disqualified prime minister Nawaz Sharif after an investigation into corruption allegations against his family.
Dar has so far appeared before the court seven times since the trial began. Earlier, he missed the first hearing on September 20. It is the second hearing that he missed.
Proceedings in the trial could not advance today due to Dar’s absence, even though prosecution witness
Abdul Rehman Gondal, branch manager of a private bank’s parliament branch, had appeared in the court with two gunny bags full of …read more
