LAHORE: An accountability court extended the remand of PTI President Parvez Elahi till August 29 in a case related to allegedly awarding illegal contracts during his tenure as Punjab’s chief minister.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) requested the PTI leader’s physical remand be extended by another 14 days. Judge Zubair Shahzad Kayani, however, gave a remand extension till August 29.
Elahi’s counsel, Amjad Pervez, protested and said that the matter of Elahi’s repeated arrests is currently pending in the Lahore High Court (LHC) and the Supreme Court (SC) and added that the apex court had ordered the LHC to hear and decide upon the case by August 21.
Elahi’s counsel further stated that if after hearing the case, the court approves his remand for an appropriate time, then they will have no objection. Judge Kayani inquired from Elahi’s counsel to share what an “appropriate number of days” would be according to them, to which the lawyer stated that a physical remand till Monday would be agreeable.
The counsel further added that his client suffers from a back ailment and requested the court to allow the former chief minister’s personal doctor to perform a check-up. During the hearing,
Elahi appeared on the rostrum and informed the court that he has swollen knees and is not feeling well. He also requested for his personal doctor to be allowed and lamented that he is only allowed one visit a week with his family.
Last week, Elahi was presented in the court of Judge Kayani amid heightened security. NAB arrested the PTI leader last Monday from outside Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail minutes after he stepped out of the prison at the conclusion of his 30-day detention period.
The PTI president was first arrested by the Punjab Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) with the help of Punjab Police in Lahore on June 1. He has since been released and rearrested multiple times.
NAB on June 9 launched formal investigations against former Punjab CM Parvez Elahi, former provincial minister Ali Afzal Sahi and Elahi’s son Moonis Elahi.
The anti-corruption watchdog alleged that the accused received over Rs1 billion in illicit kickbacks through intermediaries in 226 contracts.