LAHORE: A local court in Lahore on Wednesday sent Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) President Chaudhry Parvez Elahi on a 14-day judicial remand following his arrest in a money laundering case this morning.
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) took the former Punjab chief minister in custody in a money laundering case, just a day after he secured bail in a corruption case.
The ex-Punjab chief minister was taken into custody from the Camp Jail, a day after an anti-corruption court granted him bail in the illegal recruitment case in which he had been arrested this month.
Ordering Elahi's release on bail, the anti-corruption court directed him to submit surety bonds worth of Rs1 million. However, a new case relating to money laundering was filed against the PTI leader and his son within hours of securing bail.
As the PTI leader deliberately avoided submitting the surety bond in hopes of a protective bail in the new case from a high court this morning, he remained at the Camp Jail and was eventually apprehended by the FIA officials from the detention centre.
The authority presented the ex-CM before a judicial magistrate, earlier in the day after officially arresting him following a medical examination at the Services General Hospital in Lahore.
During the hearing, the prosecution sought a 14-day physical remand of the PTI leader. However, the judicial magistrate rejected the request and sent Elahi to Camp Jail on judicial remand.
After this, the FIA officials took him to jail.
The doctors had declared Elahi medically fit to be presented in court.
Elahi and his son Moonis Elahi reportedly invested funds worth billions of rupees in five Panama companies, sources had said while sharing details of the money laundering case. They further said that the duo bought Panama companies via “money laundering.”
In order to bring Moonis Elahi back home, the FIA has decided to get issued red warrants against him, the sources added.
It may be noted that Elahi was initially arrested on June 1 from outside his residence in a Rs70 million graft case related to the embezzlement of development funds allocated for the Gujrat district.
After a district court in Lahore ordered his release on June 2, the PTI president was arrested again in a corruption case registered against him in Gujranwala by Punjab ACE.
He was then presented before a court in Gujranwala the next day, which later discharged him in the two corruption cases registered in the district's anti-corruption police station for allegedly taking kickbacks in the development funds allocated for the construction of roads in Gujrat.
However, he was re-arrested by anti-corruption personnel minutes later, in a case registered against him for the alleged illegal recruitment in the Punjab Assembly when he was the speaker.
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