National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Thursday decided to
approach the Interpol for the arrest of former finance minister Ishaq
Dar who is currently in London,
The decision was taken during a meeting of the NAB Executive Board presided by NAB Chairman retired justice Javed Iqbal.
“Ishaq
Dar is not suffering from any disease that cannot be treated in
Pakistan,” the NAB chairman was quoted as saying in a declaration issued
by the bureau. Dar has been declared a proclaimed absconder by the accountability court after the former finance minister repeatedly failed to join the trial, he added.
The
former finance minister has been nominated as an accused in a
corruption reference which alleges that “Dar possesses wealth and assets
beyond his known sources of income”, read the declaration.
The
accountability bureau will now ask the interior ministry to contact the
France-based Interpol secretariat for the issuance of “red warrants”
against Dar.
On Tuesday, Accountability Judge Mohammad
Bashir in a detailed judgement released regarding the status of Ishaq
Dar as a proclaimed offender observed that the under-trial former
finance minister, who is currently in London, does not seem to have a serious heart condition.
Earlier
this week, the judge had declared Dar a proclaimed offender in a
corruption reference initiated against him for possessing assets beyond
his sources of income after he repeatedly failed to join the trial,
remaining instead in London where he has reportedly been undergoing
medical treatment for a heart-related ailment.
During
the case proceedings, Dar's lawyer had submitted a new medical report
and told the court told that his client was suffering from chest pain
and a minor issue in a coronary artery and, therefore, could not appear
in court.
The prosecution, however, had rejected Dar's
lawyer's claims and declared that the former minister was not suffering
from any medical issues because all of his medical reports presented in
court differed from the other.
According to the judge's
detailed order, the medical reports submitted before the court by Dar's
lawyer do not seem to indicate that Dar is suffering from a serious
cardiac ailment or that he is unfit to travel to Pakistan to appear
before the courts.
"When all the medical reports are kept
together, it seems that the reports of [Dr] Ranjit Deshpandi are
procured with the purpose to linger on the case/reference," the judge
has said.
