ACE denied Elahi’s physical remand

A judicial magistrate in Lahore sent former Punjab Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi to jail on Sunday, rejecting the Anti-Corruption Establishment’s (ACE) request for physical remand of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) president.

Elahi was arrested for a third time in two days on Saturday after two separate courts dismissed charges against him. He was arrested by the province’s anti-corruption watchdog in the case pertaining to “illegal appointments” in the Punjab Assembly.

Elahi was presented before the Magistrate Ghulam Murtaza Virk. The ACE requested the judge for physical remand of the accused. During the hearing, there were heated exchanges between the ACE officials and Elahi’s lawyer, Rana Intizar.

“We will file an FIR [first information report] against the DIG [deputy inspector general of police] if he took Elahi back today,” argued Intizar. The judge also expressed his anger towards the investigating officer.

The ACE director expressed his lack of confidence in the magistrate. The ACE officials said that Judicial Magistrate Virk had a Twitter account and Facebook page, therefore, the sessions judge should assign another judge for this case.

However, the magistrate replied: “If you have objection to my hearing of the case you should go to the sessions court.” He added that he did not have any social media accounts and lamented that the application had been filed against him by the prosecution.

Rana Intizar told the court that the defence side had not been provided with the copy of the FIR registered against Elahi. He added that now “they [prosecution] are objecting to the judge”, the lawyer added.

Later, the court reserved its ruling over the ACE’s plea for remand, which was pronounced after some time. In the decision, the judge rejected the plea for physical remand and sent Elahi to jail on 14-day judicial remand.

In a short written order, the court observed that the ACE sought Elahi’s 14-day physical remand for completion of the investigation and recovery as the accused persons were especially nominated in the FIR.

The order added that the court was told that Elahi’s mobile phone was needed for forensic analysis and bribe of Rs15 million is to be recovered from his possession, which he had taken for the appointments in grade-17 posts.

The court noted that all the recruited candidates were still working in BS-17 in the Assembly Secretariat and no action had been taken against them and that not a single affected person, except the complainant, had approached the ACE.

Regarding the ACE’s jurisdiction, the order said it could proceed, but added that the law normally provided indemnity to official actions undertaken in good faith but the discrepancies in the present case seemed to not have been “taken in good faith”.

Regarding the physical remand request, the order said that the mobile phone was required for forensic analysis but no evidence or even allegations levelled in the FIR had said that the data was available in his mobile phone.

The order further said that all appointment documents, testing service results and record of the Punjab Assembly were produced in court and therefore, nothing was to be recovered from their possession.

It concluded that the physical remand request was not justified and ordered that the “accused persons” be produced in court on June 18 along with a report.
On the other hand, a spokesperson for the ACE told reporters that “there is a case of illegal recruitment” in Punjab Assembly against Elahi, who was presented in the court of Special Magistrate Ghulam Murtaza Virk.

“We have clear evidence of bias against Special Magistrate Ghulam Murtaza Virk,” the spokesperson said, adding that the judge had shown partiality by acquitting Elahi on June 2. Elahi’s arrest was “legal” and “fulfilled all legal requirements”, he added.

“Illegal recruitments and promotions in the Punjab Assembly robbed the province of what is right,” he said, alleging that “the former chief minister recruited personal employees in the Punjab Assembly by destroying the system of merit.”

The ACE spokesperson insisted that as per the law, the physical remand of the accused was necessary for investigation. “It is hoped that the court will hear the case on merit,” the official added.

The spokesperson said that magistrate’s ruling would be challenged in the high court. This decision, he said, was contrary to the facts, adding that the ACE had provided concrete evidence against Elahi. “There are many flaws in today's court ruling,” he said.

Speaking to the media later, Elahi said that he had a strong legal team and that he stood firm regardless how many cases were lodged against him. The former Punjab chief minister added that he had nothing to do with those who were involved in rioting on May 9.

(WITH INPUT FROM NEWS DESK)