LAHORE, June 11: A special banking court on Saturday indicted Moonis Elahi, an MPA and son of PML-Q leader Chaudhry Pervez Elahi, and three others for involvement in the National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) scam.

Mr Moonis, his manager Mohammad Maalick, Rizwan Bhatti and Muhammad Khalil rejected the charges, leading the court to summon four prosecution witnesses on June 16.

Earlier, Judge Malik Abdul Rasheed turned down a request of two counsel for Mr Moonis seeking copies of the statements recorded by the prosecution witnesses before a judicial magistrate.

The judge asked the counsel to cite any law or judgment of higher courts which allowed the court to unseal statements of prosecution witnesses and give their copies to the accused until the charges were framed.

At this the counsel withdrew their arguments and asked the court to frame charges so that the trial could be completed expeditiously.

The judge said the court had no personal grudge against the accused and it was proceeding with the case without fear or favour.

Mr Moonis and other accused were produced in the court by the FIA amid tight security. A large number of PML-Q workers had gathered outside the court.

Talking to reporters later, Rai Bashir and Malik Amjad Pervez, the counsel for Mr Moonis, said that charges against their client were false. Mr Moonis is accused of facilitating one of the NICL land deals.

The FIA prosecuted him after one of the accused alleged that Al Tahoor Company had withdrawn Rs220 million through fake bank accounts operated by Mr Maalick, the manager of Mr Moonis. The money was transferred to Mr Moonis.