Pak FM hopitalised in London

Pakistan Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, whose appearance has been sought by an accountability court over corruption charges, is hopitalised here, said Pakistani media reports on Saturday.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has been admitted to a London hospital and is likely to undergo a cardiac procedure that may force him to extend his stay in the United Kingdom, reports the Dawn.

According to Dawn, Dar was admitted to a West London hospital on Wednesday and underwent angiography the next day.

Dar had been to the clinic thrice for detailed check-ups in the last one week after arriving in London from Pakistan.

The doctors advised the finance minister to extend his stay in the UK and get treatment on a priority basis, the Dawn reports.

In a setback to Dar, an accountability court on Thursday rejected a fresh application seeking his exemption from appearing in the court proceedings.

The court also upheld Dar's bailable arrest warrants in the graft case, filed against him by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for owning assets beyond his means.

Acting upon petitions filed by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf's Imran Khan, Jamaat-i-Islami's Sirajul Haq and Awami Muslim League's Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, the Supreme Court bench ordered NAB to file three cases against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and one against Dar, on July 28.

NAB alleged that the assets owned by Dar were disproportionate to his known sources of income for which he could not reasonably account for.