President Mamnoon Hussain administered the oath of office to MNA Rana Muhammad Afzal Khan as Minister of State in a special ceremony held at the Awian-e-Sadr, Islamabad on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Federal Ministers, Ministers of State, Parliamentarians and Senior Government officials also attended the oath taking ceremony.

The authorities had decided to make Parliamentary Secretary Rana Afzal as state minister for finance after PM Abbasi granted indefinite leave to finance minister Ishaq Dar, who is receiving treatment in London for a heart condition.

A warrant was also issued for his arrest after he missed several court appearances on corruption charges that he had amassed wealth beyond his known sources of income.

Rana Afzal is a member of National Assembly (MNA) elected from NA-82 (Faisalabad) constituency on the ticket of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

In December 2013, he was appointed as Federal Parliamentary Secretary for Finance, Revenue, Economic Affairs, Statistics and Privatization.