A Lahore accountability court on Tuesday remanded PTI President 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. 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, 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, Elahi’s lawyer 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. “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. Elahi is among several PTI leaders and workers who have been arrested amid the state’s crackdown on the PTI leadership following the

May 9 riots during protests over party chief Imran Khan being whisked away by the Rangers at the Islamabad High Court premises. He was first arrested on June 1 from outside his Lahore residence by the ACE for allegedly taking kickbacks in development projects. The next day, he was discharged by a Lahore court but was rearrested by the ACE in a similar case registered in its Gujran­wala region. However, a Gujranwala court had then discharged him on June 3 in two corruption cases pertaining to the embezzlement of funds.

 
Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)