ISLAMABAD: Ishaq Dar’s wealth increased exponentially between 1993 and 2009, a National Accountability Bureau (NAB) witness told the accountability court on Monday during hearing of a corruption reference against the former finance minister for holding assets beyond his means.
Commissioner Inland Revenue Ishtiaq Ahmed, while recording his statement, revealed that wealth records from 1993 showed Dar’s total assets were worth Rs9.1 million. “These assets grew to Rs830m according to records from 2009,” he added, highlighting the exponential increase in Dar’s wealth over the given time period.
“According to Dar’s tax returns, he paid Rs0.7m as tax in 1993, while in 2009 he paid Rs40m as tax,” Ahmed told the court as he presented the former minister’s tax records from 1993 to 1979, and from 2009 to 2016 in court.
NAB officials Shakeel Anjum Nagra, Iqbal Hasan and Umer Daraz Gondal also recorded their statements as witnesses before the court.
After all the witnesses had recorded their statements for the day, the NAB prosecutor asked the court to allow him to add two more witnesses to the prosecution’s list.
According to the NAB prosecutor, Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan officials Sidrah Mansoor and Salman Saeed would produce records regarding Dar’s companies in court. According to the prosecutor, the record spans six folders.
In response to the application, the accountability judge said that the NAB prosecutor had two days to present as many witnesses in court as he was able to. The case against Dar is in the final stages as statements of 24 witnesses have been recorded so far. INP
