Daily Times

Senior Civil Judge Rawalpindi Ikram Ranjha on Wednesday directed Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) to present Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) former MPA Chaudhry Sarfraz Afzal in court in person at 1:00 pm on Thursday for his physical remand.

The PML-N former MPA is the real nephew of Senator Chaudhary Tanvir Khan who was arrested by Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) in an illegal housing society scam a day earlier. The ACE prayed the court to approve physical remand of accused on medical grounds. The accused was hospitalized on Wednesday. However, the court showed resentment and directed the ACE to present former MPA in person for his physical remand. The court has asked the ACE to present former MPA on Thursday (today).

PML-N spokesman Maryam Aurengzed has strongly condemned the arrest of former MPA Sarfraz Afzal. She said “we will never come under pressure despite the arrest of PML-N leaders.” She slammed the PTI government over the arrest of Chaudhry Sarfraz Afzal and Ahmad Raza Khan.

The ACE officials have arrested Chaudhry Sarfraz Afzal in a case of alleged financial fraud. Circle officer Zahid Zahoor arrested Afzal during a raid along with a heavy contingent of police under the supervision of ACE Rawalpindi director.

According to sources, the officials faced resistance from the former lawmaker of PML-N. Afzal was later shifted to a hospital after he complained about his health condition. ACE DG Gohar Nafees said the accused had built an illegal housing society without NOC, registration and approval after occupying over 200-Kanal land of the Forest Department and Lai Nullah. It has been alleged that the accused caused a loss of millions of rupees to the national exchequer in tax embezzlement. The ACE officials said that case against eleven accomplices of the suspect has also been filed.

Earlier on November 16, the ACE Punjab had arrested another PML-N leader Ahsan Raza Khan on the charges of constructing an illegal commercial market and a housing scheme. The ACE Punjab had started its investigation on source reporting. The concerned authority strongly favored to register FIR against Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) Director (Planning) Tahir Meo, Assistant Director (Planning) Samiullah Niazi, Deputy Director (Planning) Muhammad Ijaz, Maqsood-ul-Hasan Building Inspector, former MPA Chaudhry Sarfaraz Afzal, Ghulam Mehboob, Attaur Rehman Qureshi, Malik Ghulam Raza, Raja Fadad, Chaudhry Muhammad Afzal Khan and Muhammad Iftikhar in illegal housing society scam case. Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) former Director (Planning) Jamshed Aftab and some other officers are also involved in this case but the ACE is likely to include the names of these officers in FIR after investigation.

Meanwhile, Federal Parliamentary Secretary for Narcotics Control Shaikh Rashid Shafiq has strongly criticized the role of Anti-Corruption department which he said is only harassing government servants in Punjab. “The corrupt officers of Anti-Corruption department are openly demanding bribe and otherwise register baseless cases against senior government officers,” he told this scribe.

Shaikh Rashid Shafiq vowed to bring in the notice of Prime Minister Imran Khan the alleged negative role of the Anti-Corruption department in Punjab. He claimed that ACE is continuously harassing government officers in Punjab particularly in Rawalpindi. He said that courts reject or accept bails only on the basis of strong evidences but the ACE is only minting money to harass government officers. “The result of this harassment is that government officers are reluctant even to do genuine work of public. Ultimately, public is facing difficulties in routine matters,” he claimed.

Anti-Corruption Court Rawalpindi special judge Masroor Zaman has also showed strong resentment on the poor investigation of the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE).