A judicial magistrate sent Moonis Elahi on a three-day physical remand in the National Insurance Corporation Limited (NICL) corruption case and ordered the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to present him in court on March 21, 2011.
A day earlier, Elahi had surrendered before the FIA after the court turned down his request for interim bail.
Additional Director General FIA, Zafar Qureshi had told the court that investigation into the scam had been completed.
However, he said the agency still had to recover Rs260 million which Elahi had allegedly embezzled in the scam.
Elahi had said that he trusts the courts but does not trust the FIA which is levelling false allegations against him.
Updated from print edition (below)
NICL scam: Moonis arrested after LHC rejects bail plea
PML-Quaid leader Moonis Elahi was arrested on Thursday after the Lahore High Court (LHC) dismissed his application for bail in the National Insurance Corporation Limited (NICL) scam and ordered his immediate arrest.
A division bench headed by Chief Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry passed the order after Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Additional Director General Zafar Qureshi told the court that Elahi, son of former Punjab chief minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, needed to be taken into custody so Rs320 million that he had misappropriated in the scam could be recovered.
It was three hours later that Elahi was finally in FIA custody. Right after the hearing, Rangers personnel and FIA officials took up positions at the court building to ensure he could not escape, while pro-PML-Q lawyers gathered to chant slogans in his favour.
However, Qureshi left with his entourage before making the arrest. Elahi was able to leave in his own car, accompanied by party workers, some 15 minutes later and after talking to the media. Asked by reporters why Elahi hadn’t been arrested, Qureshi said lawyers had helped him escape. Eventually, some three hours after the court’s order, Elahi turned up at the FIA office to turn himself in.
Qureshi, who had arrived at the LHC accompanied by Rangers personnel for security, earlier told the court that the investigation against Elahi had been completed and the agency wanted to take him into custody in order to recover Rs320 million from him. He said the FIA’s belief that Elahi was involved in the scam came from hard evidence including witnesses. He asked the court to cancel the interim bail granted to him on March 10.
Elahi’s lawyer submitted that the FIA was an investigation agency and not a debt collection agency and therefore could not take his client into custody. He said his client was innocent of all charges.
Speaking to the press outside the court, Elahi said that he no longer had faith in the FIA. He said he was a target of a conspiracy involving “some institutions and personalities”. He vowed to take on the “false” charges.
Elahi had moved the LHC against the orders of a Special Banking Court for his arrest. The court had found irregularities in the NICL’s purchase of land for a fee of over Rs1.68 billion.
In his petition, Elahi contended that the sale had been cancelled and the money returned by the buyer to the NICL as soon as an investigation into the sale began. He submitted that Qureshi had a personal enmity with his family and had faked evidence to implicate him. He said that he had cooperated with the FIA at each stage of the investigation.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 18th, 2011.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ