Parvez, Moonis and Bhatti booked on bribe charges
The Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) has booked former chief minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi, his son Moonis Elahi and former principal secretary to the chief minister Muhammad Khan Bhatti on charges of taking bribes.
The ACE also arrested Mr Elahi’s alleged frontman, Zubair Khan.
In a statement, the ACE alleged the suspects received a sum of Rs120 million as bribe in payment of Rs2.9bn to a foreign company. It said Zubair Khan received Rs5m.
The anti-graft agency also accused the former chief minister of misusing his authority.
The ACE said Mr Elahi allegedly put pressure on the Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ali Anan Qamar for releasing the amount to the foreign company. The ACE did not initiate action against the CEO or or any other LWMC official for releasing the amount.
Meanwhile, Mr Elahi, who is also Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf president, said his residence, Kunjah House, was raided without any warrant just because he was supporting Imran Khan.
“Police once again surrounded my residence in Gujrat. More than 20 police vehicles blocked the main and rear gates of Kunjah House in the early hours of Friday. We are not afraid of these fascist tactics as these illegal tactics are being used only for supporting Imran Khan,” Elahi said.
A spokesman for Gujrat police denied any raid.
Earlier, police and other law enforcement agencies had raided the Kunjah House twice in February last.
Meanwhile, the ACE opened another probe against former chief minister Usman Buzdar for ‘illegal’ construction on the state land, summoning him for April 17.
