An anti-corruption court in Lahore has granted post-arrest bail to Parvez Elahi, President of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), in a graft case.
The case was related to illegal induction in the Punjab Assembly during his tenure as Speaker.
Earlier this month, the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) in Gujranwala arrested Parvez Elahi, accusing him of accepting bribes amounting to Rs15 million during his tenure as the speaker of the provincial assembly.
The charges revolve around the appointment of individuals to grade-17 positions in the assembly based on favoritism rather than merit.
Following his arrest, Elahi was remanded to judicial custody for 14 days. His petition for post-arrest bail was reserved for verdict by the court, with arguments from both the state prosecutor and Elahi’s lawyer, Rana Intizar.
Today, Special Judge Ali Raza Awan announced the verdict, granting Parvez Elahi post-arrest bail upon submission of surety bonds worth Rs1 million. During the hearing, Special Prosecutor, Abdul Samad, asserted Elahi’s direct involvement in the case and opposed the grant of bail. Conversely, Intizar contended that his client had no role in the alleged misconduct.
Despite the bail being granted, Parvez Elahi remains incarcerated at the district jail in Lahore pending release.
In an evening order, the court observed that there had been a significant delay of over two years in reporting the matter to the ACE. It also noted that the petitioners (Elahi and others) were never involved in the preliminary inquiry, which was conducted ex-parte.
According to the court order, the recruitment process advertised a substantial number of posts, and after completion, successful candidates were recommended by the departmental selection team. However, only 12 cases have been identified with allegations of forgery in the results declared by the Open Testing Service (OTS).
The court record further revealed that officials from the OTS were implicated but neither arrested nor investigated thus far.
In light of these findings, the court acknowledged that no evidence was recovered from the petitioners, and the area magistrate had already rejected ACE’s request for physical remand twice. The court emphasized that the extent of the petitioners’ involvement, if any, would be determined during the trial after the recording of evidence.
The court also considered Elahi’s age, 77 years old, and stated that false implication of the petitioner due to ulterior motives and political grudges could not be ruled out given the current political scenario.
Consequently, the court ruled that the petitioner should not be held in jail indefinitely as further detention would serve no purpose.
However, the bail order is subject to the final decision in a separate case titled “Chaudhry Parvez Elahi vs. Additional Sessions Judge,” which is pending in the Lahore High Court and scheduled for June 27.
