The Accountability Court hearing a corruption reference against former Finance Minister Ishaq Dar Wednesday ordered partial unfreezing of accounts of the Hajveri Trust founded by Dar. Accountability Court Judge Muhammad Bashir while hearing an application of Dar, seeking to grant approval for operating a welfare trust's bank account so that orphan children do not suffer, ordered to unfreeze, albeit partially, Hajveri Trust accounts for the welfare of children only. The Accountability Court seized the account of Hajveri Trust last year when it started proceedings of a corruption reference against Dar.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) submitted its reply before the court regarding Dar's application. Dar in his application requested the court to restore the accounts of Hajveri Trust arguing the organization is looking after at least 93 orphans, whose expenses can not be met as the relevant bank accounts are frozen.
When the hearing began, NAB Prosecutor Imran Shafiq told the court that it is a fact that Hajveri Trust is looking after orphans but according to NAB investigation, the institution which had been set up for welfare of orphan children, was misused continuously. A lot of suspicious transactions were detected in the organization's accounts, he added. To this, Dar's counsel Qazi Misbah-ul-Hassan said that it is impossible that the organization misused its funds. Hassan told the court that the organization not only supports orphans but it is also involved in other welfare projects.
He said that he has submitted the audit reports of the Trust's accounts over the past three years and left it up to the court to take a decision. According to the audit report of 2016, the total annual expenses of Hajveri Trust are Rs 13.5 million and around Rs 1 million to Rs 1.5 million are the monthly expenses, he further said.
Hassan further told the court that Hajveri Foundation and Hajveri Trust are related to each other. Hajveri Foundation is running more than one welfare project, including provision of funds for dialysis of poor kidney patients, and Hajveri Trust is one of its projects. Hajveri Foundation is providing funds for Hajveri Trust, he added.
He said if the accounts are not unfrozen, they would be compelled to shut down the Trust and the children will have no accommodation. NAB's Prosecutor Shafique told the court that the Trust should provide an estimate of its expenses and it only be allowed to draw a limited amount of money from the accounts. To this, the judge said that it was difficult to set a limit on withdrawals since expenses can vary. The court after hearing the arguments of both the prosecution and defence counsel reserved its judgment for sometime.
According to the reply submitted by the NAB, the interim reference is pending before the trial court on allegation of assets beyond means. During investigation it was found out that the subject trust is being financed by Ishaq Dar; therefore, intimation under Section 23 was sent to the concerned quarters through a letter dated September 18, 2017. The trust named as Hajveri Foundation was formed by Dar in year 2000 and since then the main financiers of the trust have been Dar and his family members.
The JIT of the Panama Papers case in its report submitted to the Supreme Court observed that a major chunk of alleged donation done by Dar went to his own Hajveri Trust and Hajveri Foundation (Rs 86.18 million). Furthermore, it was observed that these alleged donations gave him tax exemption, while keeping such huge amounts within his own access, which also amounts to tax evasion. The matter regarding the so-called donations amounting to Rs 169.276 million is under investigation with the NAB and during this investigation, the intimation under Section 23 was sent to quarters concerned by the NAB.
The bank account No 0001172069369149, titled Hajveri Foundation, is maintained at Faysal Bank, GIA Branch, Lahore. The main sources of funding are Ishaq Dar, his family members and rental income of a property 92-B, Hajveri Tower, MM Alam Road, a property gifted to Hajveri Foundation by Hajveri Holdings (Pvt) Ltd, a company owned by Dar.
Investigation to the extent of donations of Dar is under process and will be made part of supplementary investigation report/reference.
It is admitted to extent that Trust is running an orphanage but an investigation into the affairs of Trust is under process as the Trust is mainly being financed by Dar. However, keeping in view the reason that there are 92 orphans being taken care of by this Trust, it is requested that the court may pass an appropriate order for some suitable arrangements to save the uncertain future of these children. The NAB has no objection to such arrangements to safeguard these orphan children subject to monitoring of routine expenditure by the court. The NAB requested the court that the petition may be decided by the court as per law.
The court while announcing its judgment ordered that the Trust can withdraw funds from its accounts only for welfare purposes. The NAB also submitted its reply regarding freezing of Dar's properties. Dar's counsel requested the court to grant him time for reviewing the NAB reply. To this, the court adjourned the hearing till January 31.
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