Parvez Elahi granted post-arrest bail in money laundering case

FIA fails to submit case records before court

LAHORE:

A banking court in Lahore granted post-arrest bail to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) President Parvez Elahi on Tuesday in the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) money laundering case against him.

The court accepted Elahi’s post-arrest bail plea and directed him to submit a surety bond of Rs500,000. 

During the hearing, the court observed that the FIA had failed to submit case records despite being directed to do so. 

A special court in Lahore had earlier granted post-arrest bail to the PTI leader in the same case after the investigative agency had detained him and requested physical remand.

Read Elahi family not cooperating in probe, FIA tells LHC

The court had denied the FIA’s request and instead sent the former Punjab chief minister to jail on 14-day judicial remand.

Although the court had accepted Elahi’s bail plea against a surety bond of Rs10,000 and issued an order for his release from District Camp Jail, it was speculated that the PTI stalwart would be arrested again as a heavy contingent of police had been deployed outside the prison premises.

Elahi was initially arrested in June in connection with a graft case, amid a crackdown on the PTI in the aftermath of May 9 protests. He was subsequently released but arrested multiple times since in relation to different cases, including two money laundering cases.