LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Wednesday granted post-arrest bail to President of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and former chief minister of Punjab Chaudhry Parvez Elahi in a case of alleged illegal appointment of his then principal secretary Mohammad Khan Bhatti.

Advocate Amir Saeed Rawn argued on behalf of Mr Elahi that a judicial magistrate had already discharged Mr Bhatti in the case.

He said the then chief secretary of Punjab had issued the notification of Mr Bhatti’s appointment as the principal secretary to chief minister before the election of Mr Elahi as the chief minister.

The counsel pointed out that the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) did not implicate the chief secretary in the case.

Former CM produced before courts in money laundering and corruption cases

He argued that the case against Mr Elahi was politically motivated and requested the court to grant bail to the PTI leader.

Justice Shehram Sarwar Chaudhry allowed the bail petition of the PTI leader subject to his furnishing of a surety bond of Rs1 million.

Separately, Mr Elahi was produced before an accountability court and a special court for the hearing of cases of corruption in development funds and money laundering, respectively.

The accountability court adjourned the hearing of the case till Feb 22 and directed NAB to supply a better copy of the reference to the suspect.

The special court adjourned the hearing till March 14.

The police outside the Special Court manhandled journalists and restricted them from attending the hearing of the case.

Mr Elahi was initially arrested in the case of recruitments to the Punjab Assembly on June 3 last year.

The case pertained to illegal recruitments of 12 Grade-17 officers in the provincial assembly, with Mr Elahi being accused of getting the results of the testing service changed to select the candidates of his choice.

He was then arrested on Sept 18 in the case of allegedly illegally appointing Mr Bhatti, following which a Lahore court sent him on judicial remand.

In October, a Lahore district and sessions court had granted police Mr Elahi’s two-day physical remand in the case.

Days later, the Punjab Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) had informed the court that it had allegedly recovered Rs4.1 million from the former chief minister’s house in the case.

The next month, a judicial magistrate had discharged Mr Bhatti in the case but he remained in jail as he was on judicial remand in other corruption cases.

Later the same month, Mr Elahi was denied bail in the case.

Meanwhile, in a brief talk with reporters, Mr Elahi said PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif has deceived his elder brother Nawaz Sharif and humiliated him.

He said the PTI would not allow any attack on the mandate it earned on Feb 8.

He expressed satisfaction with the results of the election, saying the people have decisively rejected the so-called blue-eyed politicians.

Published in Dawn, February 15th, 2024