NICL scam: Court reserves verdict on Elahi’s acquittal plea

Moonis’ counsel asks for his client’s release since the FIR lodged did not mention him.

LAHORE: The Lahore sessions court has reserved its verdict on the acquittal plea of Moonis Elahi in the National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) scam case till October 21.

After a conclusion of arguments by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), District & Session Judge Mujahid Mustaqeem Ahmed on Saturday reserved his decision on the acquittal application of accused Elahi.

During the proceedings, FIA prosecutor Choudhary Muhammad Aslam told the court that during investigations it transpired that an amount of Rs220 million was transferred into one Adil Trader’s account from Mohsin Warraich’s account.

Although, the account was under Adil Manzoor’s name, he denied opening any such account. However, Aslam maintained that bank manager Rizwan had said that the account, in which the money was transferred, was, in fact, in Adil’s name.

On the other hand, Elahi’s counsel Advocate Amjad Pervez contended that his client had nothing to do with the scam. He added that even if the case record submitted before the court by the FIA, as well as all the statements of witnesses, were considered correct, a case would still not be established against Moonis.

He told the court that there is not even a single statement of witnesses on record which proved any involvement of Elahi in the scam. “There is no statement which proves any links of Moonis Elahi in the shape of operating the account or opening the account,” he said.

He added that neither was his client a beneficiary of the amount nor was he involved in the scam.

Pervez further argued that an FIR lodged by the FIA in the NICL case did not mention Moonis Elahi and that all prosecution witnesses presented by the FIA had also categorically denied giving any statement against his client. He, therefore, requested the court to acquit his client on these grounds.

However, according to the FIA, Moonis had opened bogus accounts in the name of his manager and his wife to go through with the corruption in NICL.

Later, the FIA lodged two FIRs against Elahi, alleging that his manager Muhammad Malik opened forged accounts in the Allied Bank Limited New Airport branch and the Dubai Islamic Bank Main Boulevard branch.

Mohsin Warriach deposited Rs320 million in total – Rs220 million in first account and Rs100 million in the second.

The first FIR was registered on December 27, 2010, while the second was lodged on January 27, 2011.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 16^th, 2011.