LHC quashes FIR against Moonis

Lahore High Court (LHC) Justice Asjad Javaid Ghural has quashed a first information report (FIR) registered by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) against PML-Q leader Moonis Elahi on charges of money laundering.

Justice Ghural reserved the verdict after hearing detailed arguments in the case and announced it later.

Deputy Attorney General Asad Ali Bajwa informed the court during the hearing that a 13,144-page challan had been submitted. Moonis Elahi’s counsel Amjad Pervez argued that he had citations of 14 decisions to establish his case in favour of the petitioner.

When Justice Ghural asked how another party could get registered an FIR without a complaint from the affected party, the deputy attorney general contended that the bank itself was allegedly involved in commission of the offence.

He said the inquiry had been initiated after approval of the federal government in the light of the proceedings of the Sugar inquiry commission.

The petitioner’s counsel argued that there was a ban on establishing sugar mills in 2007 and 2008 and the then chief minister had issued an NOC for the RYK mills.

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The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) probed the matter for a long time but found nothing to establish the reference and decided to close the case, the counsel argued. The counsel alleged that it was a case of political victimisation.

When Justice Ghural asked when the NOC had been issued, the deputy attorney general said he wanted to say that sections relating to banking offences applied to the case. This irked the judge who remarked that he should first respond to the queries.

The deputy attorney general argued that the PML-Q leader had obtained pre-arrest bail and the FIA’s plea for its cancelation was fixed for hearing. He also argued that a single-judge bench should not hear the case.

Justice Ghural remarked that the singe bench could hear the matter.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 4^th, 2022.