The Islamabad High Court on Tuesday stayed the auction for former finance minister Ishaq Dar's property in Gulberg, Lahore. A division bench comprising Chief Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Lubna Saleem Pervaiz heard an appeal of ex-minister's wife Tabassum Ishaq, and issued notice to National Accountability Bureau (NAB), directing it to file a reply by Feb 13.
The petitioner's counsel argued that the house located in Gulberg, Lahore, was given as a gift to his client on February 14, 1989. He pleaded that following the Accountability Court's decision, the NAB took possession of the property and handed over it to the Punjab government for auction.
The accountability court in its decision said that the petitioner failed to substantiate her claim that Ishaq Dar had gifted the house to her. It ordered the NAB to sell assets of former finance minister Ishaq Dar.
Former finance minister Ishaq Dar's wife on December 20, 2019 challenged the decision of accountability court to auction her property. "The accountability court has issued order without inquiring about my claim over the house," she prayed in her appeal.
Tabassum Ishaq has requested the Islamabad High Court to declare the decision of the accountability court as null and void and also requested to issue orders to cancel seizure of the said property. The petitioner argued that the property ordered for auction did not belong to her husband (Ishaq Dar) as it was gifted to her by her husband and was transferred in her name on February 14, 1989. She prayed to the court to declare AC's decision null and void.
The NAB, on the other hand, informed the AC that the house cannot be handed over to the former minister's wife and refuted her claims that house had been gifted to her. The bureau said that the property could not be returned to her as she did not possess any evidence to prove her claims. It also said that the house purchased by Dar in 1988 and the land department's record shows that he is still the owner of the property.
The Punjab government advertised the auctioning of the house. The ad said that there would be an open auction on January 28, which would allow the highest bidder to take possession of the house. The district government has set a minimum price of Rs 185 million for the house. Dar has been absconding court proceedings since 2017 following the registration of a reference against him. Later, the NAB confiscated his various bank accounts worth Rs 500 million and his house spread over four kanals and seven marlas.
Dar's other properties include three plots in Lahore's A-Falah Housing Society, six acres of land in Mauza Milot, a two-kanal plot in Islamabad's Parliamentarian Enclave, three Land Cruisers, two Mercedes Benz and one Toyota Corolla.