26 out of 28 witnesses have no evidence against Dar

ISLAMABAD: Out of a total of 28 prosecution witnesses in Ishaq Dar reference, 26 have already recorded their statements with the accountability court but not a single witness has given any evidence or leveled allegation of corruption, kickbacks, commission or misuse of authority against the former finance minister.

The witnesses mainly have been giving details of Ishaq Dar’s assets, including his bank accounts, vehicles, properties etc. Now only two prosecution (NAB) witnesses — JIT head Wajid Zia and NAB investigation officer Nadir Abbas — will record their statements on Feb 8.

In another NAB case, Ghani Rahman vs NAB (PLD 2011 SC1144), the Supreme Court had acquitted the accused on the ground that mere identification of assets was not enough for conviction unless a nexus was established between the misuse of authority and assets. The judgment was authored by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa.

In the Ishaq Dar case, neither any witness has so far given any evidence of corruption and misuse of authority nor has any link been established between the accused’s wealth and any alleged corruption.

The NAB, however, is of view that it has only to prove before the court that Dar’s assets had increased beyond his known source of income. According to NAB sources, the accused has to justify his wealth otherwise he stands guilty as per the NAB law.

In Dar’s case, prosecution witness Muhammad Ishtiaq Ahmed, Officer of Commissioner Inland Revenue Lahore, had revealed 91 times increase in Dar's wealth between 1993 and 2009. According to the wealth record, in June 1993 the total wealth of Ishaq Dar was Rs9.1 million and Rs831.6 million in June 2009.

Another prosecution witnesses – banking expert NAB Lahore, Zafar Iqbal Mufti - told the court that there were seven accounts of Ishaq Dar and his wife in different banks and on different occasions Rs18.1 million was deposited through cash, while Rs1 billion and 556 million was deposited via cheque and other means to all of Dar’s bank accounts. Zafar Iqbal Mufti told the court that on August 2017, there was more than 1 billion and 574 million rupees in all these accounts.

Prosecutor's Witness Security and Exchange Commission, Pakistan's Officer, Sidra Mansoor - in her statement provided the details of Ishaq Dar's companies which include Golf Insurance Company, CNG Pakistan Limited, Pakistan Development Fund, and WHDS Private Limited Company. Another SECP officer, Salman Saeed, provided the details of Hajweri Madhya Management, Core Chemicals Medical Limited, Spencer Distributor companies.

Prosecution witness Mohammad Naeem told the court that three vehicles were registered with the Motor Registration Authority in the name of Ishaq Dar. Another witness – Manager Operations Bank Alfallah Lahore Azeem khan - in his statement told the court that one bank account of Ishaq Dar was active from October 2001 to October 2012, second was active from August 2012 to December 2016 and the third remained active for just eight months from January to August 2018.

The other NAB witnesses include Deputy Director Election Commission Saeed Ahmed Khan, Deputy Secretary Cabinet Division Wasif Hussain, Commissioner Inland, Revenue Lahore Ishtiaq Ahmed, Director Ministry of Commerce Qamar Zaman, Director Budget National Assembly Shair Dil Khan, National Investment Trust’s Shahid Aziz, ETO Lahore Muhammad Naeem, Senior Vice President Al Barqa Bank, Lahore Tariq Javed, Branch Manager Allied Bank National Assembly branch Abdur Rehman Gondal, Branch Manager Habib Metropolitan Bank Limited, Lahore Faisal Shehzad, Manager Operations Habib Bank Q block Masood Al Ghani, Manager operations Bank Alfallah Lahore Azeem Khan, deputy director Lahore Development Authority Faiz ur Rehman, ETO Model town Lahore Niaz Subhani, A.C Raiwand Ali Akbar, Director Operations NADRA headquarter Syed Qaboos Aziz, project director Alfallah Cooperative Housing Authority Inam ul Haq, district officer industries Azhar Hussain, additional director FIA Wajid Zia, additional director NAB Islamabad Shakeel Anjum Nagra, manager accounts Bank Alfallah Gulberg Lahore Ishtiaq Ali, sub inspector police station NAB Lahore Omer Daraz Gondal, Banking Expert NAB Lahore Zafar Iqbal Mufti, Assistant Director NAB Lahore Adeel Akhther, assistant director NAB Lahore Zawar Manzoor, deputy director NAB Lahore Iqbal Hassan, assistant director NAB Lahore Ubaid Samoon and investigation officer NAB Lahore Nadir Abbas