Panama Papers probe: Pak's FM Ishaq Dar appears before anti-corruption court

The cases were registered weeks after the Supreme Court disqualified Sharif as prime minister on July 28 in the Panama Papers scandal.

Islamabad, Oct 16: In connection with the Panama Papers probe, Pakistan's Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Monday again appeared before an accountability court in Islamabad to face trial in a corruption case.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had registered three cases of corruption and money laundering against ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his family members and Finance Minister Dar in the Islamabad Accountability Court.

The cases were registered weeks after the Supreme Court disqualified Sharif as prime minister on July 28 in the Panama Papers scandal.

Dar, 67, appeared in the court but his chief counsel Khawaja Harris was not present due to some prior commitments. The court was informed that Harris would come later in the day. Judge Muhammad Bashir then postponed the hearing till afternoon.

Meanwhile, the court also rejected an application by Dar to exempt him from hearing today. The prosecution is set to present another witness against Dar.

Earlier, three witnesses have testified in the case, including Al-Baraka Bank Senior Vice-President Tariq Javed and Shahid Aziz of the National Investment Trust (NIT) asset management company during the previous hearing on October 12. Dar was indicted last month in the case in which he is accused of making assets, which are not in accordance with his known sources of income.

PTI