ISLAMABAD: A National Accountability Bureau (NAB) team raided finance minister Ishaq Dar’s house in Islamabad hours after an accountability court issued bailable arrest warrants against the PML-N stalwart.
A two member NAB team also delivered the summons under the directives of the accountability court.
Earlier in the day, an accountability court which was hearing a reference filed by NAB against him for possessing assets beyond his known sources of income, issued bailable arrest warrants against Dar.
During the proceedings, the anti-graft body pleaded before the court to issue arrest warrants of the finance minister for continuously evading court proceedings against him.
Issuing directives for his arrest and produce him before the court till September 25, the accountability court also called for submission of surety bond worth Rs1 million to seek bail.
As the hearing began in Judge Mohammad Bashir’s court, Dar’s protocol officer Fazal Dad appeared in court and informed the judge that the minister is presently in London.
It also emerged today that the anti-corruption watchdog has frozen bank accounts and other assets of the foreign minister.
NAB had made a written request to banks for freezing Dar’s accounts in connection with Hajveri Trust and the companies owned by him.
Absent from the country, Dar has currently been in London, along with deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif and other members of the Sharif family.
Dar’s absence from the country came up for discussion at the Senate Standing Committee on Finance on Wednesday after the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) chairman announced that refund payments would be made only after the finance minister announced a date to this effect.