Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) President Parvez Elahi was arrested again on Saturday just a few minutes after a Gujranwala court discharged him in two corruption cases.
This is the second time that the PTI leader has been re-arrested by the Punjab Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) after a court granted him relief. Minutes before the arrest, a local court had discharged the PTI President in the two corruption cases registered against him in Gujranwala’s anti-corruption police station for allegedly taking kickbacks during the construction of roads in Gujrat. This time, the PTI leader has been re-arrested in a case registered against him for the alleged illegal recruitment he did in the Punjab Assembly when he was the speaker.
A day earlier, the PTI leader was arrested in a similar fashion outside a Lahore court. The court had ordered release of the PTI leader in connection with a case involving Rs70 million in corruption in development funds allocated for the Gujrat district. But, minutes later he was re-arrested in a corruption case registered against him in Gujranwala by Punjab ACE.
After the arrest, the PTI leader was brought to ACE’s regional office in Gujranwala this morning and presented before Judicial Magistrate Muhammad Afzal. The team had sought Elahi’s 14-day physical remand for the investigation of cases and recovery of bribed money. The court had then reserved its verdict on the plea. While announcing the verdict, the court issued the release orders of the PTI leader over “lack of evidence” and rejected the plea for the physical remand. According to the details provided by an ACE spokesperson, Elahi made 12 illegal recruitments in Punjab Assembly in grade 17. The candidates were recruited in the provincial assembly by altering the records. “The recruitments were made by taking fake testing services for irregularities,” said the spokesperson.
