Court orders seizure of all Ishaq Dar’s assets

ISLAMABAD: An accountability court in Pakistan on Tuesday ordered the government of Punjab province to seize and hold or auction off all assets of former Finance Minister Ishaq Dar.
Judge Muhammad Bashir announced the verdict on a petition filed by Pakistan’s anti-corruption watchdog, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), alleging that Dar accumulated assets beyond his known sources of income.
Dar, a close relative of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, has been in the UK since October 2017, and despite court orders has not returned to Pakistan. Last December, an accountability court declared him an absconder in the case.
Dar contested Senate elections earlier this year while remaining outside the country, and secured another six-year term in office.
But when he did not heed Pakistani authorities’ request to return and face the charges against him, the Supreme Court suspended his Senate membership and instructed the Interior Ministry to issue warrants against him.
Earlier this month, Supreme Court Chief Justice Saqib Nisar expressed his displeasure at the state’s inability to bring an absconder to justice, and instructed relevant authorities to extradite Dar from Britain.
Subsequently, officials sent instructions to the passport-issuing authority to cancel his travel documents and those of his wife.