An accountability court in Islamabad on Tuesday ended proceedings in an assets beyond means case against Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Ishaq Dar.

During the hearing, Judge Mohammad Bashir remarked that “After the [National Accountability (Second Amendment) Act 2022], this case does not fall under the jurisdiction of this court.”

“We can neither announce a decision in favour of NAB nor can we issue a decision in favour of the suspect. The trial against Ishaq Dar ends here,” Judge Bashir said.

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In August, the National Assembly passed the National Accountability (Second Amendment) Bill, 2022, which sought to exclude private transactions from the scope of NAB.

Following the amendment, accountability courts withdrew 50 major corruption cases, including the case against Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif, and former Chief Minister (CM) Punjab Hamza Shahbaz.

The case

In 2017, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) registered a case against Dar, accusing him of possessing assets disproportionate to his declared sources of income.

Following the case, he went to London and remained there for five years until September when he returned to Pakistan and took up charge of the finance ministry.