Islamabad: An Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) team based in Punjab failed to arrest Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah on Monday and returned empty-handed from Islamabad’s Secretariat Police Station due to the non-cooperation of the Islamabad police.
A Rawalpindi court on Saturday issued a non-bailable arrest warrant for Rana Sanaullah after the minister made no appearance in a corruption case.
Court issues ‘non-bailable’ arrest warrant for Rana Sanaullah in corruption case
The warrant was issued by the court of Senior Civil Judge Ghulam Akbar. The order passed by the judge said that Rana Sanaullah had been nominated in a first information report (FIR) and his arrest was “necessary in the case, so non-bailable arrest warrants of the accused may be issued”.
Earlier today, the anti-corruption body’s officials from Punjab arrived in Islamabad and left within an hour, complaining that the police officials there did not comply with the court orders.
ACE Punjab Director Syed Anwar Ali Shah claimed that police officials misbehaved with the team and pushed them out of the police station.
On his way out, he told reporters that he would inform the court about it tomorrow. He added that the police officials neither recorded the entry/departure of the ACE team nor did they comply with the court’s order.
Rana Sanaullah’s warrant was issued just a day after the minister formally confirmed that the FIA had taken PTI Senator Saifullah Nyazee into “protective custody” in PTI’s prohibited funding case.
Senator Saifullah Khan Nyazee was picked up on Friday by “unknown men” from outside the Senate premises in Islamabad. The news was initially denied by the FIA but Rana Sanaullah said that the development had happened in relation to PTI’s prohibited funding case.