ACE team fails to arrest Sanaullah from Islamabad

RAWALPINDI: A team of the Anti-corruption Establishment (ACE) tasked with Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah’s arrest returned empty-handed due to the non-cooperation of the Islamabad police on Monday.

Earlier today, a local court in Rawalpindi directed the ACE team to continue efforts for the minister's arrest and present him before the court in a case relating to corruption.

In compliance with the court’s order, a team of the ACE reached the Islamabad Secretariat Police Station where police officials misbehaved with the team and pushed them out of the police station, said ACE Punjab Director Syed Anwar Ali Shah.

“The police officials neither recorded entry/departure of the ACE team nor did they comply with the court’s order,” he added.

Talking to journalists, Shah said, “Now we will inform the court about today’s events and devise a future strategy as per the court’s directions.”

Court dismisses ACE's plea 

Earlier, a local court in Rawalpindi dismissed the Anti-corruption Establishment’s (ACE) plea seeking contempt of court proceedings against Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah for not appearing in a corruption inquiry.

 ACE made the request during the hearing of a corruption case against the interior minister. 

“Neither is Rana Sanaullah appearing before the court nor is he surrendering to  ACE, hence contempt of court proceedings should be initiated against him,” ACE’s prosecutor pleaded with the judge.

On Saturday, a judicial magistrate issued a non-bailable arrest warrant for Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah over his non-appearance in an anti-corruption inquiry.

During today's hearing, the court directed the ACE team to continue efforts for the minister's arrest and present him before the court.

'Whoever commits crime is a criminal'

Musaddiq Abbasi, the adviser to Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi on anti-corruption, said that Rana Sanaullah has been found guilty in the corruption case against him.

Speaking during his media talk at Punjab’s Directorate-General Public Relations, Abbasi said that the interior minister was accused of taking bribes in the form of plots and he was summoned by ACE in October.

According to the adviser, Sanaullah did not show up despite being summoned, which is why his team has the “right to arrest the criminal in any position”.

The adviser stressed that a crime should be considered, no matter who commits it.

“This is not a political case, Sanaullah's crime has been proven,” Abbasi remarked, adding that the PML-N minister registered the plots in the case for Rs900,000.

“The housing society was inaugurated in 2017, while it received permission in 2018. Sanaullah was given two plots in the society as a bribe,” Abbasi revealed, adding that the FIR against the interior minister was registered in 2019, while he submitted his letter of acknowledgement in 2022.

“The letter of acknowledgement stated that what was written in 2018’s registry was incorrect. Rana Sanaullah wrote his property has been frozen by the Anti-Narcotics Force,” he shared, further revealing that the interior minister mentioned plans of construction on the property.