LHC bars coercive action against Moonis

A Lahore High Court (LHC) division bench headed by Justice Ali Baqar Najafi has restrained the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) from taking any coercive measure against PML-Q leader Moonis Elahi.

The bench sought replies of the chairman and a director general of NAB on a plea challenging NAB's notice summoning petitioner Moonis Elahi and his family members for proceedings related to the Hayat Khan Private Limited Company.

The petitioner's counsel Amjad Pervez argued that NAB had been conducting investigations in the assets beyond means case for 20 years against the family without any success.

The lawyer said the NAB DG had stated before a division bench that the bureau was going to close down the inquiry. NAB had also submitted a application in an accountability court for dropping the references against the petitioner and others, which was accepted.

He argued that Section 9c of the NAB Ordinance stipulated that a court’s permission was required to reopen a matter after it was concluded. But the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had registered a first information report (FIR) with the same charges.

A special prosecutor contended that the earlier case was of assets beyond means but now there was an inquiry against Hashim Jawan Bakht and Khusro Bakhtiyar.

Elahi’s counsel implored the court that the notice had been served on the secretary of the Hayat Khan company in a pending inquiry against Bakhtiyar and Jawan Bakht.

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