ISLAMABAD: An accountability court on Wednesday adjourned until December 4 the proceedings for confiscation of Rs 5 milion surety bond furnished by Ahmad Ali Quddusi, a guarantor of former finance minister Ishaq Dar, due to his continuous absence from the trial.
When the court resumed the hearing on the matter, neither Quddusi nor his lawyer was present in the court. The guarantor; however, reached the court two hours late from the scheduled time. The court admonished him and directed him not to do so in future hearings. Quddusi told the court that Dar was out of the country on account of his medical treatment. He he requested the court not to confiscate his surety bond and grant him more time to produce Dar. He said that Dar might return to Pakistan after three to four weeks. Imran Shafiq, the National Accountability Bureau special prosecutor; however, opposed the plea and asked the court not to allow more time and confiscate the surety bond. He contended that the guarantor had already been granted enough time, but he failed to produce the accused, thus his surety bond should be confiscated, instead of granting more time. The court, however, accepted the plea of the guarantor and directed him to must produce the accused until December 4, otherwise his surety bond will be confiscated.
The court is also scheduled to hear the main reference against Dar on December 4. Meanwhile, the NAB’s prosecutor told the court that in compliance with its orders, the process to declare Dar a proclaimed offender had been started, as he had continuously been failed to join the trial. He stated that NAB’s investigators had pasted a notice outside the accountability court warning the accused Dar to join the trial within 10 days, otherwise he would be declared proclaimed offender. He stated that the 10-day period would expire on December 4. Earlier on Nov 21, the court had declared Dar an absconder due to his continuous absence on medical grounds from the hearing of a graft reference filed against him by the NAB on the Supreme Court’s July 28, 2017 orders in Panama Papers case. The court had directed NAB to initiate legal process to declare Dar a proclaimed offender within ten days. Dar is accused of possessing assets beyond his know sources of income.
Published in Daily Times, November 30th 2017.
