Chaudhry Parvez Elahi remanded to NAB custody till August 21 in bribery case
LAHORE, August 15 (SABAH): A Lahore accountability court on Tuesday remanded Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) President and former chief minister Punjab Chaudhry Parvez Elahi to the custody of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) till August 21 in a case pertaining to bribes over development project contracts.
A day earlier, the former Punjab chief minister was arrested by the anti-corruption watchdog shortly after he was released from Adiala jail. He was set free upon the completion of his 30-day detention, which was under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) ordinance.
But as soon as he walked out of Adiala jail’s gate, he was taken into custody by a NAB team, headed by Deputy Director Najamul Hassan. The team consisted of personnel from the bureau’s Rawalpindi and Lahore zones.
Later, police obtained a one-day transitory remand of the PTI leader from a court in Rawalpindi.
The NAB alleges that Elahi received bribes/kickbacks in exchange for getting the “contracts of road schemes of Gujrat Highways Division awarded to favourite/hand-picked contractors”.
His son Moonis Elahi, Mahr Azmat Hayat and others are also accused in the case. The case claims that the co-accused were “involved in causing loss to the government exchequer to the tune of millions of rupees against receipt of commission/kickbacks and committed offences of corruption and corrupt practices” under Section 9(a) of the NAB ordinance, 1999.
Earlier on Tuesday, a frail-looking Elahi was presented before the accountability court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Zubair Shahzad Kiyani.
At the outset of the hearing on Tuesday, Elahi’s lawyer Muhammad Amjad Pervaiz requested the court to grant him five minutes to talk to his client.
When the proceedings commenced, NAB counsel Waris Ali Janjua said four suspects had previously been arrested in the said case.
“As the chief minister of Punjab, Parvez Elahi announced development packages worth Rs72 billion for Gujrat alone,” he contended, adding that the accountability bureau had prepared a list of 200 such projects.
Elahi, Janjua claimed, violated the law and gave “fast track approval” for the aforementioned projects, adding that the PTI president’s son Moonis Elahi had also held several meetings on “kickbacks of the shares”.
“Money was released even before work on the development projects commenced,” the NAB lawyer went on to say, adding that this was a violation under the law and the accountability bureau had evidence pertaining to these charges.
For his part, Elahi’s lawyer Amjad Pervaiz said cases against his client’s arrests were currently being hearing the Supreme Court and Lahore High Court.
“The court may approve Elahi’s physical remand till Monday (Aug 21) as by then the SC and LHC verdict will also be announced,” he suggested.
Janjua, however, interjected here and said NAB was seeking Elahi’s physical remand for 14 days. However, ADSJ Kiyani remarked that the matter would be decided by the court. Subsequently, the judge handed Elahi in NAB custody till Aug 21.