NICL scam: FIA frames charges against Moonis Elahi

NA panel summons officials to report progress on probe.

LAHORE:

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Punjab chapter on Friday submitted a complete challan against Moonis Elahi, declaring him guilty of opening bogus accounts to embezzle huge sums of money in the National Insurance Company Ltd (NICL) scam.

In the next hearing which is to be held on May 12, copies of the case record will be provided to the accused. Charges are also likely to be framed against Moonis in the next hearing.

According to court sources, the FIA has submitted statements of 29 witnesses along with the records of different banks. The challan stated that Moonis opened bogus accounts in the name of his manager Abdul Malik and his wife.

Meanwhile officials from the Federal Investigation Agency have been summoned to testify before the National Assembly’s committee on commerce on May 12 to report on their progress into the investigation of the alleged Rs5.34 billion fraud at NICL.

The committee’s summons comes after the Supreme Court has already taken suo motu notice of the case and is probing the matter. The investigation involves several fraudulent transactions, including some that involve real estate transfers made under false pretences.

In recent months, the investigation has brought several politicians under scrutiny for their alleged involvement in the matter, including Moonis Elahi, a member of the Punjab Assembly and son of Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, the former Punjab chief minister. Elahi denies all the charges.

Also alleged to be involved in the scandal is Mohsin Warraich, son of former federal cabinet member Habibullah Warraich, who has already confessed to improprieties and begun repaying the NICL. Investigators claim, however, that not all of the money has yet been recovered.

Investigators say that several of the transactions involved complicated land transactions and several middle men.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 7^th, 2011.