Moments after being released from Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) re-arrested PTI President Parvez Elahi for allegedly receiving bribes in exchange for contracts for development projects.
NAB rearrests Elahi afte release from Jail: The PTI president, a former chief minister of Punjab, was first taken into custody on June 1 as part of a corruption inquiry. He was released from detention in that instance the next day, only to be held in another.
Elahi was ordered to be released from Lahore’s Camp Jail, where he was being held in connection with a money laundering case, and was instead jailed for 30 days under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) rule.
After today’s MPO detention was over, the Lahore NAB team picked up Elahi from the Adiala Jai.
According to Elahi’s lawyer, who characterised the imprisonment as political, Elahi’s legal team would appeal the arrest before the Lahore High Court (LHC).
The Lahore NAB then hauled Elahi before a Rawalpindi sessions court, where Raffay Malik and Sardar Tahir Ayub, NAB prosecutors, asked that he be given a two-day transitory detention order so that the PTI leader could be transferred to Lahore.
The judge only granted the Lahore NAB a one-day provisional remand and instructed Investigation Officer Najam Abbas to deliver Elahi to the proper court “in safe custody” by tomorrow.
According to a court decision, a warrant for the PTI leader’s arrest was issued in connection with the relevant inquiry on August 11.
Elahi is one of the co-accused in a case involving paying bribes or getting kickbacks to get the “contracts of road schemes of Gujrat Highways Division awarded to favorite/hand-picked contractors.”
In accordance with Section 9(a) of the NAB ordinance from 1999, it is also claimed that the co-accused “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 practises.”