Daily Times

The accountability court of Lahore has extended the physical remand of former Punjab chief minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi till September 2.

The court was hearing a case of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) regarding alleged corruption in development schemes. It has sought the investigation report from the NAB on the next hearing. Elahi had also challenged his arrest by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in the Lahore High Court. The Punjab IGP, NAB, FIA and others have been made parties in the petition. The petition maintains that the NAB illegally issued an arrest warrant and executed it.

The bureau also illegally upgraded the inquiry to an investigation. It did not even give a call-up notice nor did it give time to submit a statement.

The petition requests the Lahore High Court to declare the arrest by the NAB null and void.

The court should issue an order to stop Parvez Elahi’s arrest in any undisclosed case.

During the proceedings in a NAB case of alleged corruption in development schemes against the former CM, lawyer Amjad Pervaiz said if Moonis Elahi committed a wrongful act, his father could not be held responsible for it. Moonis Elahi is independent and self-reliant in his work. Higher court verdicts also say the same, he told the accountability court.

The prosecution has made some huge allegations, the counsel says, adding that they should be asked to provide documents related to the allegations too.

The accountability court of Lahore has reserved its verdict on the application for the physical remand of Elahi. The NAB sought the PTI president’s physical remand. Elahi’s lawyer requested for declaring his client’s arrest illegal. In a report prepared by the NAB, it was revealed that PTI President Elahi misused his office during his stint as the chief minister and had 116 schemes approved for his hometown of Gujrat.

The report, a copy of which is available with SAMAA TV, was prepared in the case of fraud and kickbacks in government contracts against former chief minister Elahi.

The NAB report declares that Parvez Elahi was found involved in corruption. As the chief minister of Punjab, Elahi got 116 development schemes approved for Gujrat in connivance with co-suspects in the case for vested interests. He misused his position as the chief minister, and used his influence to award contracts to his favorite contractors, the NAB report says.

The bureau further says that after awarding the contracts to his favoured contractors, the PTI president received kickbacks through his frontman.

The report also says that Elahi launched dozens of development schemes unnecessarily in Gujrat. Releasing advance funds for the schemes was malicious on his part, it added. The former chief minister also diverted the funds meant of other schemes to projects in Gujrat, NAB maintains.