NICL scam: Moonis’ physical remand extended

FIA says investigations are proceeding well in the case.

LAHORE:

A judicial magistrate on Monday extended the physical remand of Moonis Elahi for another four days in the National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) scam case, after the FIA told the court that it was examining his foreign bank accounts containing Rs420 million.

Judicial Magistrate Muham­mad Irfan Basra also directed the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to produce Elahi, son of former Punjab chief minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, in court again on April 1.

In Karachi, the Sindh High Court rejected the bail pleas of the main accused and four co-accused in the NICL case.

Moonis makes his case

PML-Quaid supporters had gathered at the court in Lahore and shouted slogans and threw rose petals when Elahi was brought to the compound amidst heavy security.

After the prosecutor presented his request to let the agency keep Elahi for another four days, defence counsel Iqbal Bhatti submitted that his client had cooperated extensively with the FIA and had spent 10 days in the agency’s custody, but there was still no evidence against him. “Keeping my client in physical custody without substantial evidence is nothing but political victimisation,” he said.

Elahi himself addressed the magistrate and implored him to reject the FIA’s request. “If the FIA has something, why is it not producing the evidence in court?” he asked.

The FIA lawyer said that the agency was investigating Elahi’s bank accounts abroad, which contained some Rs420 million. The agency wanted to question Elahi about where the money came from. If it were found to have a link to this case, the money could be confiscated and returned to the state, he said.

SHC rejects bail pleas

Justice Shahid Anwar Bajwa of the SHC rejected the bail pleas of Ayaz Khan Niazi, the main accused, and co-accused Ejaz Ahmed Shaikh, Syed Zahid Hussain, Muhammad Zahoor and Athar Naqvi.

The bench rejected the bail pleas, saying that this was a matter for the trial court and it could not intervene at this stage. (Additional reporting by Zeeshan Mujahid in Karachi)

Published in The Express Tribune, March 29^th, 2011.