The Federal Investigation Agency has registered a money laundering case against PML-Q leader and former federal minister Moonis Elahi and others, it emerged on Wednesday.
Subsequently, Moonis’ lawyer, Amir Saeed Rawn told media that the FIA’s move would be challenged in the Lahore High Court as a case could “not be registered without a prior inquiry”.
He also claimed that the case was based on “mala fide”.
According to the FIA’s first information report, the case against Elahi was registered on Tuesday under Sections 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of a common intention), 109 (punishment for abetment), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (using a genuine forged document) of the Pakistan Penal Code, read with Section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947 and Section 4 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2010.
State, through the FIA Corporate Crime Circle in Lahore, has been named as the complainant in the FIR. According to the FIR, the FIA’s Anti-Corruption Circle in Lahore had registered an inquiry on August 7, 2020 pursuant to a report of the Sugar Inquiry Commission 2020.
The FIR said that in light of the report, the FIA was mandated by the federal government to probe financial and corporate frauds committed by various sugar mills, including Rahim Yar Khan/Alliance Sugar Mills.
“During the ongoing probe against RYK/ Alliance Sugar Mills Group, it transpired that the following low-profile individuals — one of them had been at a very low level at the time — had jointly set up RYK Sugar Mills Ltd. in 2007/2008 at Rahim Yar Khan,” the FIR stated.
