Banking Offence (central) Special Judge Malik Abdul Rasheed on Tuesday refused to proceed in the National Insurance Corporation Limited (NICL) scam case against Moonis Elahi and forwarded the matter to the Lahore High Court chief justice for fixing the case before any other court.
The judge decided to transfer the case in protest as Moonis’ lawyer, a PML-Q MPA, challenged the court’s jurisdiction on the issue of recording the statement of a co-accused Muhammad Maalik under Section 342 of the CrPC.
The judge wanted to hear the case’s investigating officer before deciding on an acquittal application by Moonis, but his lawyers Amjad Pervez and Rai Bashir insisted that the application be decided the same day.
Arguments between the judge and the lawyers shocked all those present in the court. According to details, the court resumed hearing in the NICL scam on Tuesday when advocate Pervez started his arguments in support of the acquittal application filed by Moonis. The proceedings went smooth until the court asked to record the statement of the co-accused, Maalik, the manager of a company owned by Moonis, under Section 342 of CrPC.
Moonis’ other lawyer, Bashir objected, arguing that the court had no jurisdiction to record the statement of the accused at this stage of the case. However, the judge insisted that the court could record the statement of any accused at any stage of the case.
Maalik had expressed his readiness to answer the judge’s queries, however, he too refused to record his statement after the lawyers objected.
The lawyers asked the judge to announce the decision on the acquittal application relying on the record available with the court and the arguments advanced by them.
But the judge observed that the court could not decide the application without hearing version of FIA investigating officer Sarwar.
However, the lawyers stuck to their point, forcing the judge to refuse to conduct further proceedings while observing that the counsels were trying to influence the court.
Shujaat fires away at Qureshi: Meanwhile, commenting on the reappointment of Zafar Qureshi to FIA to head the NICL probe, PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain said Qureshi was a “mere stooge” and attempts were being made for achieving the agenda of Nawaz Sharif. “There is a limit to everything, but when something exceeds the limit, facts have to be revealed. The fact is that several attempts are being made for achieving Nawaz’s agenda,” the PML-Q president said in a press statement issued on Tuesday.
“As far as the case is concerned, it revolves around a person who purchased some land and sold it to NICL at inflated price, but returned the money when the deal was cancelled. Moonis’ name is not in the FIR and there is no evidence of his involvement in the sale and purchase,” he said.
It seems there are no laws in this country for those in power, or those who have money. Bigger the crime, more the chances of recovery. You can hire lawyers who have the courage to challenge the Judge and stop him from asking questions as was done in the Banking Court by Monnis Elahi's lawyers. After all Rs 35 Crore were deposited in a bank. Does that Bank have any procedure to stop such crimes like money laundering from occuring and verify the account holder. No wonder we are being called a country on the verge of being a failed state. Money can buy even TV Anchors, few of whom justify that the son of former CM Punjab be let off, because they had not caught anybody robbing the state, when they were in power. Some Logic?.
MOONIS ELAHI takes the cake for making a fool of our laws and our courts.
Monnis Elahi, Qadir Gillani, Bilawal and Hamza Shariff are the new face of Pakistan, which is tax free country for black economy traders, smugglers and criminals. Perhaps laws should be enacted to punish honest officials like Zafar Qureshi, and iron clad guarantees be extended to our corrupt ruling elite in the hope that they bring part of their ill-gotten billions back home from the Gulf , Swiss Accounts, tax free havens like Monaco etc.
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