National Assembly for the second time, Dar was invited into the cabinet of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif as a federal minister and was appointed as the Minister for Industries and Investment in February 1997 where he served until July 1997. In December 1997, he was made the Minister for Commerce. After Pakistan tested its nuclear weapons in May 1998, other countries responded with heavy economic sanctions against Pakistan. When the economy plummeted, Dar was given the additional cabinet portfolio of Minister for Finance with the additional charge of Revenue, Economic Affairs and Statistics. Dar helped conclude negotiations for an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout package to deal with an economic crisis that had been triggered by the sanctions. Dar continued to serve in both cabinet positions until the 1999 Pakistani coup d'état, during which the then-Chief of Army Staff, General Pervez Musharraf, overthrew Nawaz Sharif and his existing elected government. Dar spent nearly two years in jail under Musharraf over corruption charges that never went to trial. His tenure as Member of the National Assembly was also terminated after the assembly's dissolution in 1999 as a result of the coup. Dar remained loyal to the PML-N during Musharraf's rule despite pressure by the Pakistan Army to switch allegiance from Nawaz Sharif. However, during his detention in 2000, Dar accused Nawaz Sharif of having engaged in money laundering in the late 1990s and, in connection with the infamous Hudabya Papers Mills case, Dar confessed to laundering US$14.86 million on behalf of the Nawaz Sharif. Later, he retreated from his statement, saying it had been extracted under duress. After having been released from jail during the Pervez Musharraf rule in Pakistan, Dar moved to the United Arab Emirates, where he worked as a financial adviser to a member of the ruling family, a position he held until 2008. In 2002 he was made president of PML-N's International Affairs office. Third tenure as Pakistan's Federal Minister for Finance & Revenue For the 2013 general election, Dar was made part of the PML-N's central parliamentary board tasked with selecting candidates for the election. Upon the victory of the PML-N in the 2013 general election, Dar resigned from his position as Opposition Leader in the Senate and was invited to join the federal cabinet after the government was formed by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in June 2013. He was for the third time made the