Elahi, a former member of the Punjab Assembly and son of the former Punjab Chief Minister Pervez Elahi, claimed that the presence at Lahore Airport of supporters from his political party, Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid), was evidence of his popularity.
He continued to claim innocence in the NICL case and cited the court’s act to shoot down a request by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to issue a warrant for his arrest as evidence.
The former MPA claimed that the case against him was a conspiracy to malign his family. Elahi has been accused of using political influence to force the state-owned National Insurance Company to buy land at highly inflated valuations. The FIA also alleges that some of the land sold to the NICL was not even owned by Elahi and his associates.
One of Elahi’s co-defendants is Mohsin Warraich, son of Habibullah Warraich, a former federal cabinet member. Warraich has already pled guilty to his crime, though he claims that Moonis Elahi was not involved.
Meanwhile, FIA Lahore has directed Moonis to appear before its investigators on Saturday to give his side of the story. Initially, Moonis is said to have wanted to appear on Friday, but was told that the investigating officer of the case was out of town.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 25th, 2011.
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