The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Tuesday reopened an assets-beyond-means case against senior Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) leader Ishaq Dar in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling striking down amendments to the anti-graft laws.
Taking up the case after NAB submitted its record, Judge Mohammad Bashir also issued a summons for Dar to appear before his court on Oct. 7. Last year, the same court had shuttered the proceedings in the case and returned it to NAB in view of legal amendments that had said graft cases of less than Rs. 500 million did not fall under the body’s purview.
Also on Tuesday, the accountability court revived references against former National Bank of Pakistan president Saeed Ahmed, Naeem Mehmood and Mansoor Raza Rizvi. It also scheduled the hearing of the NAB reference against PPP leader Dr. Asim and eight others for Oct. 7.
In 2017, a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court had constituted a joint investigation team (JIT) to probe the assets of the Sharif family and Dar. The JIT had prepared four references—three against the Sharif family and one against Dar—and filed them in the accountability court that year. During proceedings, the prosecution had argued that Dar’s assets had grown from Rs. 9.1 million in 1982-83 to Rs. 831.6m in 2008.
However, Dar had gone into self-exile while the case was proceeding, with the court declaring him a proclaimed offender on Dec. 11, 2017 and attaching his movable and immovable properties. The warrants for his arrest were suspended for two weeks as he returned to the country last year, and were subsequently closed upon his surrender to court on Oct. 10, 2022. In November, he had been granted relief with the court returning the reference to NAB.
On Sept. 15, a five-member Supreme Court bench headed by former chief justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial had nullified a majority of amendments to NAB laws and directed the anti-graft watchdog to revive all closed cases within seven days. Apart from Dar, the ruling has seen cases being reopened against former president Asif Ali Zardari; former prime ministers Yousuf Raza Gilani, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Shehbaz Sharif, and Nawaz Sharif; and former chief ministers of Sindh and Punjab.