LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Monday issued non-bailable arrest warrants for the wife of absconding former federal minister Moonis Elahi for not attending the hearing of a prosecution appeal seeking cancellation of their pre-arrest bail in a money laundering case.

Last month, a two-judge bench headed by Justice Shehram Sarwar Chaudhry had issued bailable warrants for the arrest of Tehreem Elahi, the wife of Moonis.

Ms Tehreem also failed to appear before the bench on Monday.

At this, the bench issued her non-bailable arrest warrants for a date to be fixed after Eidul Fitr holidays.

The prosecution filed the appeal seeking cancellation of bail of PTI President Parvez Elahi’s wife Qaisera Elahi, son Rasikh Elahi, daughter-in-law Zara Elahi and others.

A trial court had confirmed the pre-arrest bail of the Elahi’s family members in the money laundering case lodged by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

The FIA alleged that the sons and the daughters-in-law of former chief minister Elahi committed money laundering through a low cadre employee of the Punjab Assembly.

It said the suspects used bank accounts of Qaiser Iqbal Bhatti, a peon of the assembly, to launder money.

The agency said unexplained transactions of millions of rupees had been traced in the accounts of the peon and the children of Elahi. It alleged that the assets of the peon had been found beyond his known sources of income.

The FIA said the inquiry in question had no relation with any previous probe as it had been initiated against a government servant, the assembly`s peon.

Moonis has been declared a proclaimed offender in the case.

Omar Ayub: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Monday granted pre-arrest bail to the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Secretary General Omar Ayub Khan till April 20 in five cases related to May 9 riots.

The PTI leader, who earlier secured protective bail from the Peshawar High Court, appeared before the ATC along with his counsel Babar Awan.

Judge Arshad Javed allowed the pre-arrest bail to the petitioner subject to furnishing surety bonds worth Rs50,000 in each case.

Speaking to the media outside the court, Omar Ayub, who is also opposition leader in the National Assembly, said working relations with the government depend on the behaviour of the ruling coalition.

He said the PTI would see how its founder Imran Khan, his wife Bushra Bibi, former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and other arrested leaders were treated by the government before taking any decision in this regard.

“Until our arrested leaders are not released, there can be no negotiations with the government,” he announced.

The opposition leader said the government was clueless about the country’s economy, therefore, there was no point in discussing the economic issues with it.

Mr Ayub said the ruling coalition had pushed the country towards bankruptcy earlier and now they were doing the same thing again.

Published in Dawn, March 19th, 2024