An accountability court, on Wednesday, dismissed an acquittal petition of co-accused former National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) President, Saeed Ahmed, in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) reference against former finance minister Ishaq Dar. The hearing was presided by Judge Muhammad Bashir. The bench maintained that the case was at a conclusive stage and only two additional witnesses were to record their statements. The NAB prosecutor had requested the court to present prosecution witnesses, including Security Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) officials, Sidra Mansoor and Suleman Saeed on February 14. The watchdog body had filed a reference against Dar for his alleged assets beyond his known sources of income. Statements of three witnesses, including a forensic expert, were recorded in January. In his statement as the forensic expert, Muhammad Naseem, stated that Ahmed’s signatures were found to be fake in seven bank accounts, which did not bear any similarity to Ahmed’s signature. Another witness, private bank employee, Muhammad Aftab, also recorded his statement and submitted documents related to two of Ahmed’s bank accounts.
Published in Daily Times, February 21st 2019.
