After Moonis Elahi, a prominent member of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and a former federal minister, failed to show up in court in connection with a money laundering case, a trial court in the provincial capital of Punjab initiated the process of proclaiming him a proclaimed offender (PO).
On Saturday, after deeming the report and testimony of a process server as genuine, Judicial Magistrate Ghulam Murtaza Virk commenced the case under Section 87 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). A process server’s job is to deliver court documents to defendants and other parties.
According to his account, the process server was given a non-bailable arrest warrant for the defendant and went to his home to serve it.
Despite his best efforts, “the accused concealed himself deliberately to avoid the warrant,” he explained.
The court ordered the necessary authorities to disclose the former federal minister’s whereabouts, means of transportation, bank account information, passport and CNIC details. As per the judge’s directive, Elahi’s CNIC, passport, bank accounts, and properties have been frozen.
Earlier, a motion asking the court to designate Moonis as a PO had been filed. The court had previously issued an arrest warrant that could not be cancelled by posting bail.
Any court may issue a written proclamation pursuant to Section 87 (1) of the PPC if it finds probable cause to suspect that a person against whom it has issued a warrant has absconded or is concealing himself so that such warrant cannot be executed.
Not later than 30 days after the proclamation’s publication, the person in question must appear before the court at the time and location mentioned in the proclamation.
A person’s assets can be seized under Section 88 of the Code if they go missing. The court that issues the proclamation under Section 87 has the authority to attach any and all of the declared person’s property at any time.
Moonis and others were charged with money laundering by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) last year for their suspected roles in a Rs720 million scheme.
In addition to Moonis, two of his close allies, Nawaz Bhatti and Mazhar Iqbal, have been arrested on charges of aiding the ex-minister in his theft.
On June 11 the FIA filed charges against Moonis under various provisions of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), including Sections 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of a common intention), 109 (punishment for abetment), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), and 471 (using a genuine forged document).
The PTI chief is being investigated on two counts of money laundering. Moonis Elahi is one of four suspects who have had cases filed against them by the Anti-Corruption Circle Punjab, who have turned in a challan to a court.Elahi’s lawyer, Advocate Amir Saeed Rawn, spoke to the Express Tribune and said that his client had been falsely implicated in a case by the FIA due to a fabricated FIR.
“Moonis is out of the country but the FIA seems to be in hurry to get him declared a proclaimed offender in a fake case,” the lawyer continued.
