Moonis Elahi declared 'proclaimed offender' for evading law

• Court issues permanent arrest warrant for Moonis Elahi. 
• The accused has gone into hiding by design, says judge. 
• Moonis denies money laundering charges in social media post.

LAHORE: A special court on Tuesday declared Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Moonis Elahi a "proclaimed offender" for his continued absence from proceedings in a money laundering case filed by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

The former federal minister, who fled the country in December 2022, is facing multiple cases of corruption and money laundering registered against him by the FIA, the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

Lahore's Central Special Court judge Tanveer Ahmed Sheikh also issued a permanent arrest warrant for Moonis, while making the declaration.

"The accused has gone into hiding by design. FIA can take measures of Moonis's arrest by reaching out to [International Criminal Police Organisation] Interpol," the judge stated.

Reacting to the development, Moonis denied the charges in a post on microblogging site X.

"The case in which the FIA has again written to the Interpol, alleges that my friend established an offshore company for my and my father's money laundering. They are so incompetent that the company they are linking us with was established when my and my friend's age was three [year]," he said. 

It may be noted that the politician was declared an absconder in another money laundering case, while the caretaker federal government initiated a process to bring him back from Spain, where he had been living since December 2022 to avoid “political victimisation” in the country.

In this regard, the FIA had approached Interpol for the issuance of a red notice to detain the PTI leader.

Moonis and his father Parvez Elahi were booked in different graft cases last year in June following a crackdown on several PTI leaders and workers after the May 9 riots.