Daily Times

A trial court in Punjab’s provincial capital on Tuesday rejected an anti-graft watchdog’s request to remand PTI Central President Parvez Elahi in its custody for 14 days in connection with its probe into two different corruption cases. The court decided to put the politician into judicial custody.

Simultaneously, a division bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) dismissed an appeal moved by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against an LHC single bench’s September 1 order that restricted authorities, including NAB, from arresting Elahi in any case.

Elahi, who has been rearrested or detained every time a court set him free since June this year, was presented in the court of a judicial magistrate in Lahore on Tuesday under increased security measures.

Two days ago, on September 17, a judicial magistrate in Lahore had discharged the PTI leader in a corruption case lodged by Punjab Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE). However, authorities had rearrested him in a terrorism case minutes after the court order, and the former CM was taken to Islamabad.

Punjab ACE had registered two more cases against the politician-one related to the appointment of a lower cadre officer, Muhammad Khan Bhatti, as his principal secretary during his term as Punjab CM and the other about illegal recruitments in the Punjab Assembly during his term as the legislature’s speaker.

On Monday, the ACE managed to get Elahi’s transit remand from Islamabad’s Anti-Terrorism Court-1, and the PTI leader was once again brought to Lahore to be presented in the court of Judicial Magistrate Imran Abid on Tuesday, September 19.

The ACE lawyer argued that the illegal recruitment case is a big scandal, and in order to recover the recruitment record as well as the kickback received from various candidates, the ACE needs to interrogate the former CM. It requested the court to remand Elahi in its custody for 14 days. Rana Intizar Hussain, one of the counsels representing Elahi, pointed out that the LHC had granted protective bail to Elahi in the Punjab Assembly’s recruitment case, yet the ACE now seeks his remand in the same matter. Elahi’s legal team questioned the legitimacy of his arrest, citing the LHC’s September 1 order restricting authorities from arresting authorities in any case. They contended that over ten first information reports (FIRs) had been registered against the PTI leader just to force him to “hold a press conference.”