LAHORE: An anti-corruption court on Thursday declared Rai Mumtaz, former secretary of the Punjab Assembly, a proclaimed offender (PO) and issued his perpetual arrest warrants in a case against Muhammad Khan Bhatti, former principal secretary to the chief minister of Punjab, on the charges of receiving session allowance for 10 years despite being on forced leave.
Anti-Corruption Court Judge Safdar Ali Bhatti conducted the case proceedings, during which Camp Jail authorities also produced Muhammad Khan Bhatti.
At the start of the proceedings, a report was submitted on behalf of the Camp Jail superintendent in response to Muhammad Khan Bhatti’s plea for the grant of B-Class in jail. The court was apprised that B-class facilities were available in the Camp jail, and Muhammad Khan Bhatti had been granted B-class status. It was added that the shifting of the accused to Kot Lakhpat jail was not required for this purpose.
An investigation officer of the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) Punjab informed the court
that Rai Mumtaz had neither joined the investigation nor attended judicial proceedings despite the publication of advertisements in newspapers. He pleaded with the court to declare the accused as a proclaimed offender.
At this, the court granted the request and declared Rai Mumtaz a proclaimed offender for continuously evading proceedings and issued his perpetual arrest warrants. The court adjourned further proceedings till May 9.
ACE had filed a challan against Muhammad Khan Bhatti, accusing him of receiving Punjab Assembly session allowance for the period 2009 to 2018 despite being on forced leave. Rai Mumtaz had been accused of approving Rs 3.2 million as session allowance to the accused.