Parvez Elahi sent to jail on 14-day judicial remand in illegal appointment cases

• Ex-Punjab CM and PTI President Parvez Elahi shifted to Adiala jail.
• Court rejects ACE’s plea seeking 14-day physical remand of Elahi.
• LHC rejects NAB’s appeal against a single-member bench.

A local court in Lahore sent Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf President Parvez Elahi to Adiala jail on a 14-day judicial remand in two cases pertaining to illegal appointments.

Judicial magistrate Imran Abid announced the verdict reserved earlier in the day after all the parties made their final arguments.

As per the first information reports (FIRs), Elahi made 12 illegal recruitments in the Punjab Assembly on grade 17 positions and appointed Muhammad Khan Bhatti as his principal secretary by violating the law.

Upon the completion of the one-day transitory remand, the PTI president was produced before the court by the officials of Punjab's Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE). The ACE prosecutor pleaded with the court to grant them a 14-day physical remand of the PTI leader, which the court rejected.

A day earlier, Elahi found himself embroiled in yet another case, as he will now be headed to Lahore with the Punjab's ACE following an approval of their request seeking his transitory remand.

After an anti-terrorism court (ATC) ordered to send him to jail on judicial remand in the case pertaining to the attack on the Federal Judicial Complex (FJC), the Punjab ACE stepped in seeking the senior politician's remand in a new case filed in Lahore for misusing his power and position to shuffle provincial bureaucracy.

According to an FIR, Elahi has been booked under section 5/2(d)47 of the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA) for illicitly misusing his position and power as the then-chief minister of Punjab and transferring Muhammad Khan Bhatti, an employee in a special department of the Punjab Assembly, to a principal secretary.

ATC judge Abual Hasnat Zulqarnain approved the Punjab ACE request to issue Elahi's one-day transitory remand after reserving its verdict in the wake of arguments presented by the anti-graft department.

It may be noted that Elahi was initially arrested on June 1 in a graft case, amid a crackdown on PTI in the wake of the May 9 protests. He was rearrested multiple times after this in different cases, including the two money laundering cases.

The illegal appointment case

According to the details provided by an ACE spokesperson, Elahi made 12 illegal recruitments in the Punjab Assembly on grade 17 positions.

The candidates were recruited in the provincial assembly by altering the records. "The illegal recruitments were made through fake testing services," the spokesperson said.

He said that the investigation by the ACE proved that fake recruitments were made in the Punjab Assembly, adding that the anti-corruption has also arrested Secretary Rai Mumtaz Hussain in connection with this case on the basis of evidence.

"Rai Mumtaz was involved in a fake recruiting process with Parvez Elahi," he said.

LHC rejects NAB plea

Earlier today, the Lahore High Court (LHC) rejected the National Accountability Bureau's (NAB) appeal against the court’s August 31 order, declaring it inadmissible.

Last month, the LHC single bench comprising Justice Amjad Rafiq ordered NAB to release Elahi after the antigraft watchdog sought more time to submit its reply explaining his arrest.

Later, NAB filed an appeal in the LHC against the single bench’s order. After hearing the arguments, a two-member bench of the LHC, headed by Justice Ali Baqar Najafi, declared the appeal inadmissible and wrapped up the case.