NICL scam: FIA fails to submit challan against Moonis

Court gives final extension to the agency for submission.

LAHORE:

The Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) Punjab chapter on Tuesday once again failed to submit a challan against Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) leader Moonis Elahi.

Moonis, who is the son of former Punjab chief minister Pervaiz Elahi and is allegedly involved in the National Insurance Corporation Limited (NIC) land scam, was produced before special judge (banking offences) Abdul Rasheed, amid tight security.

The FIA officials however sought more time for the submission of the complete challan in the next hearing which is going to be held on May 12. The court in its orders also mentioned that if the FIA failed to submit the challan in the next hearing, the court will start the trial based on the documents available and will not give the FIA any further extension for submission.

During Tuesday’s hearing, Moonis’ counsel advocate Amir Saeed lashed out at the FIA saying that it was wasting the court’s time by not submitting the challan. He contended that the FIA had been unable to complete its investigation despite sending Moonis to jail.

Saeed said that Moonis had nothing to do with the NICL scam which is why the FIA has not submitted the complete challan in the court, adding that he was implicated in the scandal purely on political grounds.

The court had earlier rejected Moonis’ bail application.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 4^th, 2011.