LHC orders NAB to release Parvez Elahi. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) was ordered by the Lahore High Court (LHC) to release Parvez Elahi, the PTI President, on Friday.
The hearing, which concerned a petition filed by Elahi contesting his arrest by NAB on suspicion of corruption, was presided over by Justice Amjad Rafiq.
Following the verdict, the judge ordered the former Punjab chief minister not to be detained in connection with any further investigations.
As part of the government’s crackdown on PTI leadership in the wake of the May 9 riots that broke out during protests when PTI leader Imran Khan was taken away by paramilitary personnel at the Islamabad High Court premises, Parvez Elahi is one of several PTI leaders and supporters who have been detained.
As LHC orders NAB to release Parvez Elahi, Elahi was first detained on June 1 and then arrested again and again on various corruption-related charges.
Accusations of receiving bribes or kickbacks in exchange for awarding contracts for road schemes in the Gujrat Highways Division to preferred or hand-picked contractors led to his most recent arrest by NAB on August 14.
Parvez Elahi addressed the media following his release and blamed the PML-N (Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz) for the state of the economy at the time, claiming they had fled to London after causing harm to it.
Justice Rafiq asked about Elahi’s absence from the court proceedings during the hearing. The accountability watchdog was ready to bring Elahi to court, the NAB prosecutor retorted but had received a letter from the Punjab government outlining threats to Elahi’s life.
The prosecutor added that the Punjab Deputy Inspector General (DIG) had responded that police armored vans and bulletproof cars were being used in an operation against riverine gangs in response to the NAB’s request for security from the government to bring Elahi to court.
The court ordered the anti-graft organization to present the PTI president within an hour after Elahi’s attorney offered to provide a bulletproof vehicle. The court threatened to issue arrest warrants for the Punjab DIG if this wasn’t done.
Elahi appeared in court around 12:15 p.m. Justice Rafiq then ordered his release and barred law enforcement from detaining him in any additional cases.
This was the latest in a string of arrests and re-arrests involving Parvez Elahi, which began with his initial detention on kickback-related charges on June 1. These legal proceedings have involved a number of cases, legal actions, and detentions, including those involving allegations of money laundering, illegal recruitment, and corruption.
