LAHORE: The indictment of PTI President Pervez Elahi in two corruption cases was delayed once again on Wednesday by respective trial courts on the request of his lawyers.
The special court anti corruption observed that the charges would be framed on the suspects on March 11 without further delay.
An accountability court however allowed the request of the defence counsel and deferred the indictment of the suspects till March 19.
Pervez Elahi was first produced before a special court for anti-corruption in a case of alleged illegal appointments made in the Punjab Assembly during his tenure as the Punjab chief minister.
The counsel of Pervez Elahi asked the court to defer the indictment as complete documents of the challan had not been provided by the prosecution.
He said the charges could not be framed without supplying complete documents to the defence.
The court directed prosecutor of the Anti-Corruption Establishment to provide all documents to the defence before the next hearing.
Muhammad Khan Bhatti, former principal secretary to the CM, was also produced before an accountability court.
Later, a team of the NAB presented Elahi and Bhatti before an accountability court for indictment in a reference of receiving kickbacks for releasing funds of the development schemes.
The court expressed its displeasure over the prosecution for presenting the suspects with delay and sought a written explanation on the matter.
The lawyers for the suspects told the court that they received better copies of the reference, however, needed some time to go through the documents so they could contest the indictment.
The court allowed the request of the defence counsel and deferred the indictment of the suspects till next hearing.
The NAB alleged that Bhatti being the principal secretary to then Punjab chief minister Pervez Elahi manoeuvred the award of contracts in favour of blue-eyed contractors in connivance with other suspects including officials of government departments.
The bureau alleged that the money from the corruption committed by Bhatti had been transferred into the bank accounts of Pervez Elahi and his son Moonis Elahi.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024