News
Monday, May 05, 2008
NAB arrests ex-BoP president, five GMs
Staff Report
LAHORE: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has arrested Hamesh Khan, the sacked chairman of the Bank of Punjab (BoP), and five former general managers of the bank on massive fraud charges, sources in the bureau told Daily Times on Sunday. Haroon Aziz, Khalid Qayyum, Amir Mumtaz, Muhammad Hussain and Amir Ifitkhar have been named as the five arrested former BoP general managers, the sources said. According to Geo TV, an internal audit of the BoP disclosed a fraud worth Rs 13 billion during the previous government’s tenure. It said the case was referred to the State Bank of Pakistan, which sent it to NAB for further investigations. The channel added that NAB sources had confirmed the fraud, saying that the BoP administration had issued heavy loans against ordinary property. It has been learnt that Hamesh’s arrest came after Sharjeel Masood, a senior BoP officer and right hand man of Hamesh, informed authorities of the latter’s activities. The sources said the officials had been under NAB detention since Thursday. They added that former Punjab Secretary Salman Siddique and the former Finance secretary would also be investigated in the case.
Courtesy Daily Times