ISLAMABAD:
Acquittal in a Lahore banking court does not appear to be the end of Punjab Assembly member Moonis Elahi’s legal troubles.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday expressed outrage at the way the investigation into Elahi’s alleged involvement with the National Insurance Company Ltd (NICL) was handled by the interior ministry and the Federal Investigation Agency.
A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry questioned the acquittal of Elahi, particularly why the accusations against the Pakistan Muslim League Quaid (PML-Q) leader were separated from the main NICL embezzlement scandal trial.
“Why was he [Elahi] tried separately? The other accused are still behind bars. Justice should be equal for everyone,” remarked the chief justice.
The court also ordered Interior Secretary Khwaja Siddique Akbar and FIA Director General Tehseen Anwar Shah to respond to allegations by Zafar Qureshi, the former lead investigator in the case, that they had deliberately created hurdles in the investigation.
Qureshi retired on September 30, without being able to complete his probe. Yet, he continued to testify regarding the case, alleging, for instance, that bank accounts of Moonis Elahi that were frozen during the investigation were somehow unfrozen and the money in them released to Elahi.
Qureshi named Waqar Haider, a director at the FIA, and Zulfiqar Ali, a legal officer at the agency, as being responsible for allowing Elahi to move his money out of his accounts before the probe ended.
In addition to providing details of Elahi’s assets abroad, Qureshi also alleged that Habibullah Warraich, a former cabinet minister who is one of the accused in the case, was allowed to board a flight at Karachi Airport and leave the country.
This information visibly upset the chief justice, who then asked where the absconders in the case were. FIA Legal Director Azam Khan replied that they were in the United Kingdom. Khan also admitted that about Rs420 million of the embezzled amount had yet to be recovered from the accused.
“What is going on, Mr Attorney General,” he asked angrily of Maulvi Anwarul Haq, who was representing the federation in the case.
Since Qureshi’s retirement, the investigation has been taken over by Waqar Haider, a director at the FIA’s Lahore office, who is working with the team that Qureshi had initially assembled to probe the case.
The court issued notices to Haider and Azam Khan, in addition to the attorney general, the interior secretary, and the FIA director general to appear before the court on November 2 to explain why their orders regarding the NICL scam’s investigation were not being implemented.
(Read: Search for justice)
Published in The Express Tribune, October 26th, 2011.
COMMENTS (24)
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Pen is mightier than the sword....... I disagree
A brand new leader is ready to "serve" Pakistan better! One of the necessary training process is completed.
Happy Democracy everyone! :)
@Mirza: I am not commenting because you wrote what i was going to write.
NRO is here but what about the hereafter??? Do they think the angels will be interested in their golds and investments? Hell fire for them I hope
Justice Served ?
My word! Moonis has proven to be a brave and strong willed politician. I admire the way he returned to fight his case. Not many would do this. Good example for others to follow. Face the law and fight for your right is the message that I read in Moonis Elahi’s quest for justice.
@anwar: The day of his release he flew to London to withdraw funds from his accounts leaving no trail. He is not stupid.
@Ikramuddin Akbar: Right you are. Good point.
Too much for a free and independent judiciary. Chief justice should do the judgement based on the evidence presented in front of him. It is not his job to become a prosecutor and micro manage the investigations. Jumping beyond jurisdiction is something that has destroyed our integrity before and my humble request to CJ is to avoid it.
we live in a country where you can Buy justice. sad but true
Mr. CJ, No one is ready to follow your commands. The best way for you is to take GHQ in confidence and let them come in.
And what was the main causes of the down fall of the Mughal Empire!
Might is right........! Law and punishment is for poor people. phool ki pathian(flower leaves) for mighty people;
Cheif Justice should take a suo moto notice of nawaz shareef corruption cases as well, which are pending in NAB for the last 10 years.
This is Pakistan. Sixty-four years of fraud, forgery and deceit. The cops put to a merciless death a poor man; Sarfaraz and the Rangers is one of hundreds of cases, and get away 'scot free' and a rich man buys his justice. PMLQ murdabad. Salams to us.
The government is continuously acting in ways that will severely damage our society. Honest, competent, determined people like Zafar Qureshi are being opposed. While other bureaucrats, of lesser metal are grovelling and bringing disgrace to their proud service.
There are lots of corrupt and criminal people in Pakistan. However, the SC and its CJ have a personal likes (PML-N, Sharifs and fanatics) and dislikes (PPP, PML-Q and opponents of Sharifs). There are so many cases languishing and crying for justice for decades but the SC CJ is interested in only a few handpicked cases. Like in any court system, the SC should only hear a petition when all appeals and trials in lower courts are exhausted and there are constitutional questions. SC is not a trial court in any other country. Let us not make things personal and move on. Only the factions of PML who did not align themselves with Sharifs are being tried not people like Aqeel. Let us get real and stop shoveling against the tide. There are many murder cases waiting for the SC to finally take any action.
above the law . . .!!!