Moonis eyes acquittal

Counsel wants case closed after witnesses deny giving statements.

LAHORE:

MPA Moonis Elahi on Friday filed an application in a banking offences court under Section 249-A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) seeking his acquittal in the NICL land scam.

Section 249-A of the CrPC allows a court to acquit an accused at any stage of the case if for reasons to be recorded, the court considers that the charges cannot be proved.  Elahi’s counsel said that all the prosecution witnesses have denied giving any statements against his client. He said that his client was innocent and implicated for political reasons.

Earlier, eight prosecution witnesses, recording their statements before Magistrate Irfan Basra, have denied giving any statement to the Federal Investigation Authority (FIA). The witnesses also denied that Elahi’s manager, Muhammad Maalik, had opened two accounts. They said that accounts in question were personally opened and operated by Adil Manzur and Khadim Rasul.

An FIA deputy director had said during the last hearing that Elahi was not mentioned in the main FIR.

Earlier, the FIA had charged Elahi with opening bogus accounts in his manager’s and his wife’s names. Later, the FIA lodged two FIRs against Elahi, alleging that his manager, Maalik, had opened accounts at Allied Bank Limited’s New Airport branch and Dubai Islamic Bank’s Main Boulevard branch.

According to the FIA, Maalik said that he had opened an account on Elahi’s instructions and deposited Rs220 million in it. Later Maalik had withdrawn the statement.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 2^nd, 2011.