Panama Papers probe: Finance Minister Ishaq Dar asked to appear in court on 14 November in disproportionate asset case

Islamabad: A Pakistani accountability court on Wednesday ordered embattled Finance Minister Ishaq Dar to appear in person on 14 November after he failed to appear before it in a graft case. [caption id=“attachment_1163719” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File photo of Pakistan’s finance minister Ishaq Dar. Reuters[/caption] Dar did not appear in court as he was undergoing medical check-ups in London for heart complications, his lawyer Aysha Hamid told the court. The case was filed against him by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in the light of the Supreme Court order of 28 July that disqualified Nawaz Sharif as prime minister in the Panama Papers scandal. The NAB had registered three cases of corruption and money laundering against Sharif, his family members and Finance Minister Dar in the Islamabad Accountability Court, weeks after the Supreme Court order ousted the premier. Judge Muhammad Bashir ordered Dar, 67, to appear at the next hearing on 14 November along with his surety provider and warned that the surety money bond of Rs 5 million would be confiscated if he failed to appear. Earlier, three witnesses 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. Dar was indicted in September in the case in which he is accused of having assets not in accordance with his known sources of income.