SUNDAY TIMES ISLAMABAD: The court had recorded statements of two more witnesses in the reference on Jan 23. Only one of Dar’s three co-accused— Mansoor Rizvi—was present for the hearing. The National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) prosecutor raised objection over the absence of the two other co-accused, Naeem Mehmood and National Bank of Pakistan’s former president Saeed Ahmed.
During the hearing today, the court said another hearing would be conducted into acquittal of Saeed Ahmed. The National Accountability Bureau objected to acquittal of Ahmed, prompting court to fix another hearing on February 6.
Ahmed’s counsel said the prosecutor produced 33 witnesses but none of them testified against his client.
In one of the previous hearings, the Supreme court was told that British authorities had conditionally agreed to extradite Dar. Also, a federal law officer apprised the judges that the UK Interior Ministry had sent a questionnaire comprising 27 questions regarding the case. “We have given the questionnaire to the National Accountability Bureau.”
Displeased with slow progress on the case, the apex court remarked, “the government has not taken any practical steps to bring Dar back to Pakistan,” merely letters are being written to the UK authorities in this regard, it added.