RAWALPINDI, July 14: Ali Musa Gilani, a son of former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, filed on Saturday an application in the Rawalpindi bench of Lahore High Court for a pre-arrest bail in the ephedrine case.

His counsel Dr Khalid Ranjha and Faisal Hussain Chaudhry cited the Anti-Narcotics Force as respondent in the bail application.

The application contended that Musa Gilani had been dragged unnecessarily into the scam.

It said that at a time when Musa’s elder brother Abdul Qadir Gilani was contesting by-election for the National Assembly seat vacated by the former prime minister after his disqualification by the Supreme Court, a politically-motivated campaign had been launched against the Gilani family in which Musa Gilani was being portrayed as a villain.

There was no evidence that could link Musa Gilani to the allocation of 9,000kg of ephedrine to pharmaceutical companies, said the application.

The only material on record that went against him was a single sentence of Dr Rashid Juma in which the-then health director general claimed to have received a phone call from Musa Gilani about the quota.

The application pointed out that Musa Gilani “joined the probe” whenever he was summoned by the ANF investigation team and appeared before it at least thrice since May this year.

According to the ANF challan, Musa Gilani allegedly telephoned Dr Juma for allocation and conversion of 6,500kg of ephedrine to Berlex pharmaceutical company.

In his testimony as an approver, Dr Juma also alleged that Musa Gilani along with the-then health secretary, Khushnood Akhtar Lashari, withheld the case of his service extension and used it as a blackmailing tool.

On June 21, a court in Rawalpindi issued arrest warrants for Musa Gilani and Makhdoom Shahabuddin.

Musa Gilani’s counsel filed an application in the court of additional sessions judge of Rawalpindi to quash the warrants, but his plea was dismissed on June 25.

On July 2, the Sindh High Court granted interim protective bail to Musa Gilani for two weeks. The protective bail will expire on July 16.

A division bench of the LHC will hear Musa Gilani’s pre-arrest bail application on Monday.