Elahi sent on 14-day judicial remand

Court rejects ACE’s request for extension in PTI president’s physical remand

LAHORE:

A local court in Lahore on Monday sent incarcerated Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Central President Parvez Elahi on a 14-day judicial remand in a case regarding illegal appointments in the Punjab Assembly.

After completion of his two-day physical remand, Elahi, who remained imprisoned in Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail, was produced before the court of Judicial Magistrate Aamir Raza by the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) officials.

The ACE, however, pleaded the court to extend his physical remand for 10 more days to complete the investigation.

Elahi was initially arrested on June 1 from outside his residence in a Rs70 million graft case regarding embezzlement of development funds allocated for the Gujrat district. Since then, the former Punjab chief minister has been released several times only to be rearrested immediately in different cases.

Read ACE's claim of recovering bribe money baffles Elahi

During Monday’s proceedings, the ACE lawyer apprised the court that they had to recover the suspect’s mobile phone.

The lawyer maintained that Rs4.1 million was recovered from Elahi’s house, adding that the ACE had to probe into the matter.

During the hearing, Elahi came to the rostrum. “I am 77 years old and have three heart stents. I have difficulty in walking and also came to know about the recovery [made at his house by the ACE] in the courtroom.”

Elahi’s counsel argued that the interim government was lodging fake and baseless cases against his client. “The government is subjecting [Elahi] to political victimisation by arresting him [repeatedly] in fake and baseless cases,” he said.

After hearing the arguments from both the sides, the magistrate rejected ACE’s request and sent him to jail on a 14-day judicial remand.