NAB files corruption reference against Parvez Elahi, son Moonis

• Duo accused of illegally approving 116 development schemes.
• Parvez embezzled Rs744.5 million in bribes, kickbacks: NAB.
• Moonis rejects graft allegations, claims funds are "declared".

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) President Parvez Elahi's legal woes continue as the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Saturday filed a reference accusing him and his son Moonis Elahi of being involved in corruption, costing the national exchequer over Rs1 billion.

The anti-graft watchdog has accused the father-son duo, along with others, of illegally approving 116 development schemes and receiving kickbacks, Geo News reported.

The NAB, in its reference, also accused Elahi and his son of receiving bribes by awarding contracts to their "favourite contractors". It also mentioned that Elahi embezzled more than Rs744.5 million in bribes and kickbacks.

The reference also stated that the accountant kept depositing the kickbacks in the accounts of Moonis and his family.

Elahi's son deposited €1.61 million in his foreign bank account, while his family members deposited more than Rs304 million in their accounts.

The reference stated that the suspects were found guilty in the investigation, therefore, the accountability court should conduct a trial and punish them accordingly.

The senior PTI leader was initially arrested on June 1 in Rs70 million graft case related to the embezzlement of development funds allocated for the Gujrat district. Since then, the former Punjab chief minister has been released several times only to be arrested immediately in different cases.

Meanwhile, the caretaker federal government has initiated a process to bring back Moonis, who has reportedly been living in Spain since December 2022 to avoid “political victimisation” in the country.

To bring him back, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) approached the International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol) for the issuance of a red notice to detain the PTI leader in a money laundering case.

In September this year, a local court in Lahore issued a bailable arrest warrant for Moois — a close aide of incarcerated PTI Chairman Imran Khan — in a case relating to money laundering.

Moonis rejects corruption allegations

Responding to the development, Moonis rebuked the corruption allegations claiming that the €1 million along with other funds across various accounts are "declared".

"Today NAB has issued a press release stating that my father and I are involved in corruption and they have filed a reference against us claiming an amount of Rs744 million," he said in a statement on the microblogging platform X.

"Apparently this involves 1 million euros in my account. The 1 million euros are mine along with all funds in our accounts [...] they have been declared in FBR with the source of funds and money trail," he added.

He also claimed that the anti-graft watchdog itself cleared him and his father of all charges when they filed an application of "9C" in the court.

"NAB itself told the court that it had looked into our assets [going back] 20 years."