Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah on Monday said that he will be approaching the court against the Punjab Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) for “tampering records” and “misleading the court” in a four-year-old case against him related to the purchase of plots in a housing society at a “throwaway price”.

Last week, a Rawalpindi court had issued an arrest warrant for Sanaullah. According to Adviser to Punjab Chief Minister for Anti-Corruption retired Brigadier Musaddiq Abbasi, Sanaullah had taken two plots as “bribe” from an “illegal housing society” — the Bismillah Housing Scheme — in Chakwal district.

In a series of tweets today, the minister alleged that the anti-corruption establishment was acting as a tool for its political masters and had falsified the record of a four-year-old case against him.

“ACE has obtained the warrant by deceiving and misleading the court by deliberately hiding the facts. This is why they are hiding the case records along with the warrant which is a legal requirement.”

Sanaullah clarified that all the prima facie evidence of forgery and fraud had already been presented in the case, claiming that the warrant was a “nefarious conspiracy” against the federal government aimed at gaining relief for PTI chairman Imran Khan.

“Hence, we have decided to approach the Hon’ble Court against fraud, forgery and record tampering,” he added.

ACE team fails to arrest Sanaullah

Earlier today, an ACE team returned empty-handed from Islamabad’s Secretariat Police Station, citing a “lack of cooperation” from the officials.

The anti-corruption body’s officials from Punjab arrived in the capital around noon 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 said that in addition to non-compliance of court orders, the ACE team’s automobiles were also forced out of the police station. “We will inform the court about it tomorrow,” he told reporters as he exited the Secretariat Police Station.

However, in a tweet later today, the Islamabad police claimed that ACE refused to present the record in the case. “A formal arrest warrant was received in the police station. Regular arrivals and departures were also registered.

“The Punjab Anti-Corruption Establishment was told to adopt a legal way as per the law but it failed to adopt a clear stand,” it said.

The Islamabad police added that it was present at all times to comply with all court orders, but clarified that action would only be taken according to legal regulations.

Court orders minister’s arrest

On Monday morning, a special judicial magistrate of Rawalpindi issued directions to the Punjab ACE officials, asking them to arrest and produce Sanaullah before the court.

The hearing was conducted by special judicial magistrate of Rawalpindi Ghulam Akbar, who had issued a non-bailable arrest warrant for Sanaullah at the request of the ACE last week.

The ACE had obtained the minister’s warrant since he allegedly failed to comply with repeated summons in case number 19/20 registered with the anti-graft body.

Akhlaq Ahmed, the owner of the society, has also been booked for allegedly bribing Sanaullah with a plot to get his society registered, claimed the prosecution.

At the hearing today, the ACE team requested the court to declare the minister “proclaimed offender”.

However, the magistrate turned down the plea, saying the suspect could not be declared proclaimed offender at this stage.

The court directed the ACE to take into custody and produce the minister before the judge.

In response, the officials told the court that they would approach the Ministry of Interior if police extended cooperation in the case.

The case

Abbasi, the Punjab CM’s adviser, said on Saturday the ACE had initiated an inquiry against Mr Sanaullah (in 2017), who was then the Punjab law minister.

“During the investigation, it has been revealed that in the opening ceremony of Bismillah Housing Society, Colony Kallar Kahar, Rana Sanaullah, who was provincial law minister at that time, participated along with his wife. The housing society’s owner gifted Mr Sanaullah two plots measuring 10 kanals as a bribe,” the adviser had said and added the plots in question were transferred to Sanaullah by the society at a much lower than scheduled rate.

Abbasi had said these two plots were still in the possession of Sanaullah and his wife, which itself was “proof” that he had got these as a bribe by using his official position.

He said the case was registered in 2019 but the minister did not appear before ACE. “Sanaullah was re-summoned on Oct 6 but he did not appear before the ACE after which non-bailable arrest warrants were issued against him,” he said.

The retired brigadier said the ACE was taking indiscriminate action against the corrupt elements and no one was above the law.