Court approves Elahi's bail in illegal appointments case

PTI leader, accused of corruption and illegal recruitments for provincial assembly, will pay a bail fee of Rs1 million

LAHORE:

An anti-corruption court judge granted post-arrest bail to former Chief Minister Punjab Chaudhry Pervez Elahi in an alleged case of corruption concerning out-of-merit appointments in the Punjab Assembly.

The judge announced the reserved decision. A day earlier, the judge after hearing detailed arguments from both sides, reserved a decision on the bail plea.

However, the judge ordered to release Elahi if he was not required in any other case. Meanwhile, the judge also ordered Elahi to submit surety bonds of Rs1 million.

A judicial magistrate in Lahore on June 4 remanded the Punjab former chief minister in judicial custody for 14 days after he was arrested by the provincial Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) in a case pertaining to bribery and illegal recruitments. On June 12, an additional session judge allowed ACE his physical remand again.

Read ACE denied Elahi’s physical remand

Last week, however, the Lahore High Court suspended Elahi’s physical remand.

Elahi is among the PTI leaders who are standing firm with the party chief, despite a government crackdown that is followed by a mass exodus of leaders from the former ruling party.

Once a senior leader of the PML-Q, Elahi joined the PTI in March this year, two months after the PTI decided to dissolve the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies where the party was in power.