LAHORE: A Lahore court has approved PTI leader Parvez Elahi’s plea for exemption from appearing in the ongoing money laundering case after the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) was unable to produce the challan.
The hearing was conducted before the FIA Central Lahore judge. During the session, Elahi’s attorney, Aamir Saeed Raan, requested the court to grant his client exemption on medical grounds. The court accepted the plea and inquired about the status of the challan from FIA representatives. The investigating officer asked for additional time to file the required document.
Raan criticized the FIA for requesting extensions multiple times, emphasizing that no concrete evidence has been presented against Elahi so far. He alleged that the FIA’s actions were politically motivated and that the agency lacked any substantive proof, suggesting that the case was a form of political vendetta.The judge noted the repeated requests for more time by the FIA and insisted that if charges had been formally made, the challan should be submitted without delay.
Raan also defended Moonis Elahi, asserting that he had been falsely implicated and that no allegations of money laundering had been substantiated against him. He condemned the issuance of red warrants for Moonis, calling it a legal violation, and maintained that the government lacked any concrete evidence.
The court set a final deadline of August 18 for the FIA to submit the challan, warning that if the agency failed to do so, legal proceedings would continue accordingly.
