LAHORE, Feb 8: The Federal Investigation Agency court on Tuesday issued notice to Moonis Elahi, son of former chief minister Pervaiz Elahi, for Feb 14 on the agency’s application to declare him proclaimed offender. Moonis however insists there will be no need to issue his red warrants as he will return home this month to face the charges.

An FIA spokesman said agency’s Special Judge Abid Qureshi issued the notice after it requested the court to declare Moonis proclaimed offender as it wanted to bring him back from abroad after getting his red warrants issued from Interpol.

The FIA has accused Moonis of having involvement in a transaction of Rs220 million with

Mohsin Habib Warraich, the main accused in the Rs3.3 billion National Insurance Corporation Limited (NICL) scam.

Moonis had gone to Dubai on Jan 20 before the agency could summon him in the case. Later, it got his arrest warrants.

“I am returning this month come what may. I will fax my arrival detail to the FIA Lahore,” Moonis told Dawn by phone from London.

“I am in London and will be flying directly to Lahore where Zafar Ahmed Qureshi is based. I am not afraid of facing the case,” he said. Mr Qureshi is an additional director of the FIA investigating the NICL scam.

The counsel for Moonis had earlier submitted before the FIA that he (Moonis) would appear before it by the end of last week. “On his failure to appear the agency decided to move court to get him declared PO,” an FIA official said.

A member of Moonis’s family told Dawn that the FIA would not succeed in getting him declared PO as he had left for Dubai on Jan 20 and it had to send him summons through embassy. “Besides, there are also reports that some people in the FIA want to torture Moonis in custody,” he said.

On the other hand, Dawn learnt that there had been deliberations among the family and the party (PML-Q) members about Moonis’s arrival. Some are of the view that he should not delay his arrival as it is ‘damaging’ for both the family and the party. “If Moonis is innocent, there is no need to avoid the apex court,” a party leader suggested to the family.

Interestingly, PML-Q Information Secretary Kamil Ali Agha, who has been tasked with issuing statements with regard to Moonis’s case by Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Pervaiz Elahi, was totally ignorant of the development in the case.

He expressed serious concern over what he said “declaring Moonis a PO” while talking to a TV channel.

“Isn’t it interesting that the PML-Q itself is declaring him PO -- a novel way to defend the young Elahi,” commented another Q leader.

Meanwhile, civil judge Irfan Basra issued non-bailable warrants for the arrest of Moonis.

The FIA has already got issued his warrants.