Pakistan

NICL land scam: Arrest warrants for Moonis Elahi sought

Federal investigators summon Moonis Elahi on charges of receiving Rs220m out of Rs2.5b misappropriated in the scam.

Zahid Gishkori/asad Kharal January 27, 2011

LAHORE/ISLAMABAD: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has decided to get arrest warrants for Chaudhry Moonis Elahi, the son of former Punjab chief minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, on charges of being involved in the multi-billion-rupee NICL scam.

Authorities said that Moonis Elahi was being summoned on charges of receiving Rs220 million out of Rs2.5 billion misappropriated in the National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) land scam.

Officials said that he (Moonis) was told to appear before investigators probing the scam two weeks ago, but he was reluctant. “We have decided to obtain an arrest warrant as he failed to appear before the FIA despite a lapse of 16 days,” a senior investigator said.

The FIA is also learnt to have started gathering information regarding Moonis Elahi’s bank accounts and other assets. The FIA, sources said, had also contacted Interpol.

Extradition papers “regarding the arrest and extradition of Mohsin Habib Warraich have been sent and British authorities,” sources told The Express Tribune. FIA authorities are also seeking the extradition of Javed, one of directors of NICL.

On Wednesday, FIA teams conducted a number of raids for the arrest of Rana Muhammad Ali, an employee of the Warraich family.

The Lahore bureau of FIA sent eighth reminder to its Sindh chapter for the arrest of proclaimed offender Amin Qasim Dada, another NICL director. FIA Punjab teams also summonned Director FIA, Sindh, Moazzam Jah on January 28 on charges of providing shelter to a wanted accused.

Zafar Ahmad Qureshi has once again been appointed as the investigation officer in the case. He has now been appointed as additional director general of FIA at Lahore.

Qureshi is learnt to have changed the composition of the team investigating the case by forming a new three-member team.

“If there is any hesitation on behalf of any accused to appear before the team, arrest warrants can be obtained from the special court,” Zafar Ahmad Qureshi told The Express Tribune.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 27^th, 2011.

COMMENTS (15)

zzzz | 13 years ago | Reply I saw Moonis Elahi first time the other day on television when he voluntarily surrendered to the FIA. A handsome young man Moonis looked very confident that day and I must appreciate that he seems to have gained further in his confident demeanour and popularity in the ensuing days. One will not be making an understatement if one calls him the upcoming star Pakistani politics. The case against him as reported in the papers seems politically motivated infact a decoy. Will some body tell me that why is the FIA quiet on Abdul Qadir Gillani and for that matter on the Sharifs-the country’s biggest bank defaulters?

Analyser | 13 years ago | Reply Time to teach the spawn of parasites that are bleeding this country dry that we will no longer tolerate them!!

VIEW MORE COMMENTS

Farid | 13 years ago | Reply all upright officers are an asset,hope for pakistan .so kindly Mr.Qureshi be firm with your intentions for right casuse ,for poor and needy public masses.....God will reward you.... please carry on your noble cause ...

Adil | 13 years ago | Reply Clean Pakistan, you are correct that this guy is a Wharton School graduate but who knows how he got into the college. I am a professor of Engineering in the US and you would not believe how many people belonging to the rich landowning/factory class offer me bribes to get their sons/daughters into the Universities here. If I mention any names here, you would be surprised, but the only clue that I can give you is that some of these people are in the government at the minister level. Almost all of them have fake mark sheets showing 90% grades, but when I interview them they cannot even speak basic english. Each and every politician who claims a degree from US/UK/Canada should be investigated.

Tariq | 13 years ago | Reply Salaam , Zafar Ahmed Qureshi and team we are with you........may ALLAH bless you enough courage to stand against the evil........... @@ Asad Kharal / Zahid Gishkori and Rauf Klasra Sb..... We request you to please put all your moral and professional support for thse who are sincerely and honestly investigating the Scams

Student | 13 years ago | Reply This is political war thats it !!!!

Hamza Baloch | 13 years ago | Reply Where is pervaiz elahi?

Clean Pakistan | 13 years ago | Reply And this guy is a Wharton School graduate... i suppose corruption genes don't change, no matter what you do, where you go!

Iqbal + Khan | 13 years ago | Reply Bravo Zafar Qureshi for showing a ray of hope that honest and upright officers still exist in the deteriorating and corrupt bureaucracy of Pakistan. And surely, its the judiciary who has given the support to such officers. Hats off to both of you.

Copper | 13 years ago | Reply Moonis is named as main culprit, unless we nab big guns its useless. Good progress!

syed maududi | 13 years ago | Reply we need to clean our beautiful country of ALL these rubbish people.

sarah | 13 years ago | Reply these guys owe so much money to companies and individuals its not even funny,

ali | 13 years ago | Reply great stuff..we want all these culprits behind bars MR. CJP!

omer khan | 13 years ago | Reply this is a good progress to recover the public money. these culprits have sucked the wealth of the pakistani people. exemplery punishment must be awarded to all these culprits.

Zazi | 13 years ago | Reply About time that some one with credability will investigate scams. Government should realise what is happening in Tunisia and Egypt. Pakistan is in more dire straits then either of the two countries. Should events head in that direction, God knows who will emerge in Pakistan to run its affairs. None of the existing leaders or politicians (that includes military) are going to be around by then.

Replying to X