The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Wednesday arrested former Punjab chief minister Pervaiz Elahi in the money laundering case. The FIA team produced Pervaiz Elahi before a court in the district courts of Lahore. The FIA officials demanded a 14-day physical remand of Pervaiz Elahi from the court. It is to be noted here that Pervaiz Elahi had not been released despite bail from a special anti-terrorism court in Lahore. On Tuesday last, a special anti-terrorism court in Lahore had approved the post-arrest bail of PTI Central President Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi in a case pertaining to making illegal appointments.

 The court had accepted the bail application of the former Punjab chief minister and former Punjab Assembly secretary coordination Rai Mumtaz in illegal recruitments case in lieu of surety bonds of Rs1 million each. Special Judge Anti-Corruption Ali Raza Awan read out the verdict he had reserved earlier. Lahore Bar President Rana Intezar represented Pervaiz Elahi in the case. While giving his arguments, Special Prosecutor Abdus Sammad from Anti-Corruption Establishment said that the former chief minister and others had given grade-17 jobs to 12 candidates in the Punjab Assembly despite the fact that they had failed to pass the written test.

 “There are clear proofs that the record and the documents had been tampered with,” he said, and added, “The candidate securing just eight marks was accommodated while the one getting 58 marks was overlooked.” On June 4, a Lahore district court had sent Pervaiz Elahi on 14-day judicial remand while rejecting the Anti-Corruption Establishment’s (ACE) request for his physical remand.

 An ACE spokesperson then told the media that Pervaiz Elahi allegedly recruited 12 Grade-17 officers in the Punjab Assembly against merit. Pervaiz Elahi was first arrested on June 1 after police raided his Lahore residence twice after an anti-corruption court dismissed his pre-arrest bail in a case pertaining to irregularities in development projects launched during his term as the Punjab chief minister.

 On June 2, a judicial magistrate at an anti-corruption court in Lahore had ordered his release as he announced the reserved verdict on a plea seeking Pervaiz Elahi’s physical remand. However, the former CM was again arrested by law-enforcement authorities upon release in a corruption case registered against him in Gujranwala.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-INP