Parvez Elahi granted interim bail till May 23

GUJRANWALA (INP): An anti-corruption court on Wednesday approved interim bail till May 23 in two cases of former Punjab chief minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi. Two cases have been registered in Gujranwala Circle against the president of Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and former chief minister on the complaint of anti-corruption officials of Gujarat.
Elahi appeared before Special Judge Rana Muhammad Saleem who approved his bail. It may be recalled that Elahi had obtained protective bail from the Lahore High Court in two cases ó one filed by the Punjab Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) and the other linked to terrorism.
Elahi was granted bail in the corruption case until May 15 and in the terrorism case until May 4. He had moved the LHC after the anti-corruption and police carried out a raid late on Friday night at his Lahore residence to arrest him. A separate raid was carried out early Tuesday morning at Elahiís residence in Gujrat, his son Moonis said on Twitter.
Ex-CM’s front man flees from police custody: The co-accused involved in the corruption case against former chief minister and PTI President Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi fled from the custody of anti-corruption establishment police on Wednesday in Gujranwala. Reportedly, police were shifting Pervaiz Elahi’s front man Sohail Asghar from ACE police station to the hospital after the complaints made by the accused of feeling ill.
Sources said when the police van reached near General Bus Stand, some unknown persons intercepted the van, snatched the accused and fled away. Asghar is accused of awarding development projects’ contracts to his favourite contractors after offering a cut to then chief minister Elahi.
It may be mentioned here that a second case of corruption had been registered against Pervaiz Elahi in Gujranwala on Sunday. According to the FIR, Elahi made advance payment worth Rs20 billion of a contract after accepting Rs2 billion as bribe. A case had been registered against nine accused including Pervaiz Elahi’s front man Sohail Asghar and contractor Tariq. According to the FIR, Elahi had allegedly received huge bribe while awarding the contract for the construction of 29km patch of road.
The deal worth billions of rupees was brokered by Sohail Asghar. The Gujranwala anti-corruption establishment had then arrested Sohail Asghar and started investigation. Pervaiz Elahi, Sohail Asghar, Tariq, XEN Highway Azmat Hayat, DEO Ashfaq Hamad, sub-engineer Salman Ahmed and others had been named in the case. The anti-corruption and police officials had raided the residence of Pervaiz Elahi in Lahore to arrest him late on Friday night. But the police failed to capture Elahi as he was not at his home at the time of the raid.