Former chief minister and PTI President Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi on Sunday was presented before the magistrate court in Lahore in a case of illegal appointments in Punjab Assembly during his stint as chief minister of the province, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
The proceedings are being conducted by duty magistrate Ghulam Murtaza Virk.
The Anti-Corruption Establishment brought Elahi before the court. Police are seeking physical remand of the former chief minister.
President Lahore Bar Association Rana Intizar Hussain appeared on behalf of Elahi.
At the outset of the hearing, Director Legal Jam Salahuddin reposed no confidence in Magistrate Virk. He accused him of being pro-PTI and biased.
The ACE director objected that he (magistrate) could not hear this case and requested him to adjourn the proceedings.
The magistrate remarked that the sessions judge had appointed him to hear the case. “Go, and make a complaint to him,” the magistrate asked the director.
The director told the magistrate that the ACE team was going to the sessions judge.
Hearing this, the magistrate adjourned the proceedings of the case for 30 minutes.
Ch Pervaiz Elahi was arrested from outside his house in Gulberg on June 1 in a corruption case. However, the court termed charges against Elahi not “well-founded” and discharged him.
Soon after his discharge, Elahi was taken into custody again by anti-corruption officials in two cases — registered in Gujranwala — accusing him of causing a loss of Rs100 million to the national exchequer and receiving kickbacks during his time as Punjab chief executive.
On Saturday, Elahi was produced before Judicial Magistrate Mohammad Afzal’s court in Gujranwala. After the arguments from the ACE and Elahi’s lawyers, the court discharged the PTI president in both cases and ordered his immediate release if he was not required in any other case.
But the PTI president was arrested yet again on Saturday - this time for making illegal appointments in the Punjab Assembly.
Elahi advises PTI people to put on brave face
Talking to media in the court on Sunday, Elahi said that it did not matter if the government registered 100 cases against him.
He advised the PTI people to put on a brave face, stay brave and fight off the vile tactics of the present government. He asked people that they should not worry as they are fighting a just cause.
He said that the officials who are employing highhandedness, they would fail in the end and they would be humiliated.
https://twitter.com/PTIofficial/status/1665299181416718338
Reporter Tauqeer Akram