NICL Scam: Absconding Elahi’s bank account frozen

Elahi claims allegations levelled against him are personally motivated.

LAHORE: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has decided to get Chaudhry Moonis Elahi’s proclamation order from court, freeze his movable and immovable property, bank accounts and approach Interpol for his arrest.

An amount of Rs1.4 million in a private bank account, belonging to a company owned by Elahi, has been frozen on the request of FIA, sources said.

The FIA has also summoned Elahi’s counsel, who had submitted an undertaking with the FIA promising that Elahi, who is currently abroad, would appear before FIA investigators on Sunday last.

The process of freezing Elahi’s property would begin after securing a proclamation order from the court on Tuesday, said the FIA’s additional director-general, Zafar Queshi.

“I’m not involved directly or indirectly in NICL scam in any way,” said Elahi while talking to The Express Tribune over the phone from UK, adding the investigations against him are personally motivated since Qureshi, who is heading the FIA team investigating the NICL scam, holds a personal grudge against his father, the former chief minister Punjab Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi.

Elahi said that Mohsin Habib Warraich, principal accused in the scam who is also currently in the UK, has sent an affidavit attested by the Pakistani High Commission in UK stating that Elahi has no concern with the NICL scam and its related financial transactions.

“I will soon return to Pakistan and face the courts,” he said, adding the FIA is forcing his company’s manager, currently under the agency’s custody, to implicate him in the scam.

Qureshi, on the other hand, rejected Elahi’s claims and said the investigations are being conducted in a transparent manner.

Meanwhile, the FIA has detected two more properties, belonging to Warraich, in DHA Lahore and cautioned the authorities concerned in this regard. The agency is also conducting raids for the arrest of two legal advisers of NICL, Masroor Shah and Asif Mehmood, who had managed to obtain pre-arrest bails from the court till February 9. The agency has solid evidence against them to get their bail plea rejected and will arrest them on February 9, sources said.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 8^th, 2011.