The Lahore High Court's (LHC) Rawalpindi bench on Friday suspended Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah's arrest warrant in a case related to the acquisition of plots in a housing society at a "throwaway price," reported Aaj News.
Taking up the petition filed by Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) attorneys against the warrant today, Justice Sadaqat Ali Khan halted the Punjab Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) from arresting the minister and raiding his home.
The court also asked ACE to provide the case record by October 17 and adjourned the hearing.
On October 8, Rawalpindi’s Senior Civil Judge (Criminal Division) Ghulam Akbar issued a non-bailable arrest warrant for the interior minister over his alleged failure to join the investigation in the case.
Briefing the media on the case, the Adviser to Punjab Chief Minister for Anti-Corruption retired Brigadier Musaddiq Abbasi told the media that Sanaullah had received two plots as a “bribe” from an “illegal housing society” — the Bismillah Housing Scheme — in Chakwal district.
Subsequently, an ACE team went to Islamabad on October 10, to seek Sanaullah’s arrest, but returned empty-handed because of “lack of cooperation” by the Islamabad police. The Islamabad police claimed that ACE refused to present the record in the case.
On the other hand, the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Police said that a formal arrest warrant was received at the police station but ACE Punjab refused to provide the required records.
Taking to Twitter, the ICT police said that the ACE was directed to take the legal route as per the prevailing procedure. However, no clear stand has been adopted by the Punjab anti-corruption department.
The statement furthered that action will be taken according to all legal regulations. “The officers of ACE Punjab are requested to resolve legal matters in a legal manner and avoid misrepresentation. Islamabad Capital Police is present at all times to comply with all court orders,” the statement further read.
The police stated that such statements create obstacles in the way of mutual cooperation in administrative matters between institutions, adding that it reserves the right to take legal action against such misrepresentation.
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