Elahi gets bail in illegal appointments case

LAHORE: An anti-corruption court on Tuesday granted post-arrest bail to PTI President Pervaiz Elahi in a case related to illegal appointments in the Punjab Assembly.

The former Punjab chief minister was arrested by the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) on allegations of accepting bribes amounting to Rs15 million while serving as the speaker of the provincial assembly.

The bribes were allegedly received in exchange for making out-of-merit appointments on grade-17 posts in the provincial assembly. Anti-Corruption Court Judge Ali Raza Awan granted post-arrest bail to the former Punjab chief minister upon submission of surety bonds of Rs1 million.

Meanwhile, another money laundering case has been filed against Elahi and his son. Elahi and his son Moonis Elahi reportedly invested funds worth billions of rupees in five Panama companies, sources told Geo. 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 red warrants issued against him.

Elahi was initially arrested on June 1 from outside his Gujranwala residence in an 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, 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 on Saturday, 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.