Plea for facilities in jail: Lahore High Court orders to produce ex-Punjab CM today

Lahore [Pakistan], July 10 : The Lahore High Court on Monday has ordered to produce Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf President and former Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi, ARY News reported.

The orders were passed by Justice Amjad Rafiq while hearing a plea against the provision of facilities to Elahi in jail.

The Court asked the jail authorities to present Parvez Elahi before it today at 4 pm, according to ARY News.

The former chief minister is currently in jail on judicial remand in an illegal appointment case, apart from it, Parvez Elahi is facing corruption charges in the development fund.

Earlier, on June 4, the Lahore anti-corruption court denied the Punjab Anti-Corruption Establishment's (ACE) request for the physical detention of PTI President Elahi in the Punjab Assembly unlawful recruitment case.

Judicial Magistrate Ghulam Murtaza Virk sentenced the former Punjab chief minister to 14 days in prison, reported Gwo News.

According to an ACE spokeswoman, Elahi illegally recruited 12 people for grade 17 jobs in the Punjab Assembly.

By manipulating the documents, the candidates were recruited by the provincial legislature. "The illegal recruitments were made through fake testing services," claimed the spokesperson reported Geo News.

Meanwhile, in the money laundering case, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) alleged that Elahi handed over Rs 50 million to Anwar via his frontman, Muhammad Zaman for money laundering, Dawn reported.

The FIA submitted the same plea before the court in June, seeking the 14-day physical remand of Elahi, who was granted post-arrest bail in another money laundering case two days ago but was not released.

The agency told the court it required Elahi's custody to investigate him and obtain documentary evidence.

Elahi's counsel opposed the FIA's request and argued that his client had been arrested yet again for political reasons, as per Dawn.

Earlier in June, the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) in Gujranwala arrested Elahi on allegations of taking Pakistani Rupees (PKR) 15 million in bribes as the speaker of the provincial assembly for making out-of-merit appointments on grade-17 posts in the provincial assembly. Subsequently, PTI President was sent to jail on judicial remand for 14 days.