LAHORE: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Friday told the Lahore High Court that the wife of former federal minister Moonis Elahi was a nominated suspect in an case of alleged money laundering.

A report submitted before the court by FIA Lahore Director Sarfraz Virk revealed that

Tehreem Elahi, the wife of the former minister, was accused of committing alleged money laundering of Rs30.34 million. The director also presented a copy of the case FIR before the court.

Justice Shehram Sarwar Chaudhry was hearing a petition of Ms Elahi, challenging the inclusion of her name in the no-fly list.

Asked about a case the high court had cancelled in October, the FIA officer said that the FIR was against Moonis Elahi.

“Where is Moonis now?” the judge asked the officer, who replied that the former minister had left the country last month.

Justice Chaudhry observed that the FIR against the petitioner appeared to have been registered to avenge quashment of the case against her husband.

The judge directed the FIA to hand over the report and the copy of the FIR to the counsel for the petitioner for submission of his response on Feb 3.

Petitioner Tehreem Elahi contended through her counsel that she was going abroad on Jan 10, but the immigration officials at the Lahore airport did not allow her to board her reserved flight. She said the officials informed her that her name was on the no-fly list and she could not leave the country.

The petitioner contended that the interior ministry had targeted her on political grounds after her husband and father-in-law decided to stand by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan.

She asked the court to set aside the impugned action of the ministry being illegal and allow her to go abroad.

Published in Dawn, January 28th, 2023