Pakistan, UK sign MoU to start process for extradition of ex-finance minister Ishaq Dar

Islamabad: Pakistan and the UK have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to start the process for the extradition of former finance minister Ishaq Dar, who has been declared an absconder in a graft case linking to the Panama Papers scandal.

The MoU - signed this week and case specific to 68-year-old Dar - provides legal basis in the absence of an extradition treaty, Geo TV reported. It's understood that the MoU was signed after Prime Minister Imran Khan's Adviser on Accountability Shahzad Akbar held talks with British Home Secretary Sajid Javid, it said.

Dar, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader, left Pakistan soon after a court began hearings against him in a graft case filed in line with the Supreme Court's July 2017 Panama Papers verdict. After his arrival in London, he underwent treatment for heart related ailment at a Harley Street hospital.

The MoU states that the government of Pakistan and the British government have developed an understanding "for the extradition of Ishaq Dar to the jurisdiction of the government of Pakistan," the channel said.