Tribune’s Gamechangers 2011: Moonis Elahi & Zafar Qureshi

Political court battles par excellence.

Despite Zafar Qureshi’s efforts to prove MPA Moonis Elahi’s involvement in the multi-million rupee NICL scandal, the latter was acquitted by the Lahore High Court for “lack of evidence”.

The duo made it to news bulletins for a large part of the year as Qureshi repeatedly traced embezzled millions to Moonis’ bank accounts. But Moonis and his team put up a firm attitude of non-compliance with court orders until the trial finally stretched over a period so long that Qureshi retired from his post. Allegations of bogus bank accounts and money laundering aside, Moonis walked a free man as the Supreme Court watched his release in horror.

Quote of the year: “What is going on, Mr Attorney General?” CJP asked angrily of Maulvi Anwarul Haq, who was representing the federation in the case.