LAHORE: The Punjab Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) has reserved its decision on the request for physical remand of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) president Pervez Elahi in the case of illegal recruitment in the Punjab Assembly.
The former Punjab Chief Minister, who was detained on charges of illegal appointments in the Punjab Assembly, was produced in the anti-corruption court of Lahore today (Sunday).
Elahi was arrested for the third time by ACE officials a day ago, after a Gujranwala local court granted relief in two corruption cases.
Under tight security, ACE officials produced Elahi before Judicial Magistrate Ghulam Murtaza Work at the District Court in the provincial capital. Advocate Rana Intizar, who is also the president of the Lahore Bar Association, represented Elahi in the case.
Speaking to reporters in kacheri district, Elahi said that it does not matter how many cases are registered against him. “It doesn’t matter if ten or a hundred cases are registered.”
Addressing PTI leaders, workers and supporters, the former Punjab chief minister urged them to fight with “full courage” and asked them not to worry at all.
“You are at the forefront of the fight for rights, truth, religion and Pakistan. Stay there and fight,” Elahi said.
Denying the allegations against him in the cases, the PTI president said the government would not gain anything from his lies.
Meanwhile, Punjab Assembly Secretary Roy Mumtaz Hussain, who was arrested on the charge of illegal recruitment, will also be produced in the local court today.
The case of illegal appointments
According to the details provided by the ACE spokesperson, Elahi made 12 illegal recruitments for Grade 17 posts in the Punjab Assembly.
Candidates were recruited in the provincial assembly by altering the records. “The illegal recruitments were done through fake testing services,” the spokesperson said.
He said that the investigation of ACE proved that fake recruitments were made in Punjab Assembly, he further said that anti-corruption has also arrested Secretary Rai Mumtaz Hussain in connection with this case based on the evidence.
“Roy was involved in a bogus recruitment process with Mumtaz Parvez Elahi,” he said.
Arrest and re-arrest of Elahi.
It may be noted that Elahi was initially arrested on Thursday (June 1) outside his residence in a corruption case involving Rs 70 million embezzlement of development funds allocated for Gujarat district.
After a district court in Lahore ordered his release on Friday, the PTI president was re-arrested in a corruption case filed against him by the Punjab ACE in Gujranwala.
He was then produced in a Gujranwala court on Saturday, which later booked him in a corruption case registered with the district’s anti-corruption police station for allegedly taking kickbacks in development funds earmarked for road construction in Gujarat. Acquitted of two cases.
However, minutes later he was arrested again by anti-corruption officials, in a case registered against him for alleged illegal recruitments in the Punjab Assembly when he was Speaker.
