LAHORE – The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Punjab raided an office owned by Pakistan Muslim League-Q leader MPA Moonis Elahi and arrested his manager Abdul Malik on Monday.
FIA officials conducted a raid at the office of a company, Al-Tahoor Pvt Limited, located in Garden Town, and owned by Moonis. The officials arrested the company’s manager and started interrogating him. They also took all the record in their custody for investigation.
Sources in the FIA said Malik was arrested by the FIA officials in connection with the National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) scam on the disclosure of arrested accused. The sources said FIA investigators found clues about Malik’s involvement while investigating the NICL scam. However, they said Malik was also bankrupt as he was not paying bank loan.
However when contacted, the FIA officials did not comment. Moonis, PML-Q Central Information Secretary Kamil Ali Agha and Sameena Khawar Hayyat reached the office after the raid. The leadership of the PML-Q condemned the raid and said it was conducted by the federal government on the special request of the Punjab government.
Talking to reporters, Moonis said the raid at his office was just a political stunt, adding that “the PML-Q leadership is not going to be cowed down by these stunts”. He said the act showed that the federal and the Punjab governments were “close friends”.
Sameena also condemned the FIA officials’ act and said the PML-Q leadership was not going to be cowed down by the FIA’s act. Responding to a query, Agha said the PML-Q leadership, especially the Chaudhrys and their families had nothing to do with the NICL scam. He alleged that the federal government had taken this action on the request of the Punjab government. “Such negative tactics will prove unsuccessful for them,” he said.
According to sources in the PML-Q, Moonis and Mohsin Warraich were very close friends. Mohsin is the son-in-law of former minister of state for health Naseer Khan while Naseer has close ties with the Chaudhrys. In the previous government, Pervaiz Elahi as Punjab chief minister and Habibullah Warraich as minister for state of defense, became fast friends.
The sources said that they were also found indulging in some joint ventures abroad, especial in the Gulf. Their main interest was property. Sources in the FIA also revealed that since Habibullah’s arrest, it was expected that the FIA will investigate Moonis or his close concerns in the NICL scam because of Moonis and Mohsin’s close relations.
