Ex-NBP president arrested after SHC declines to extend bail

KARACHI: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Friday arrested a former president of the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) and others after the Sindh High Court declined to extend their interim bail in a case related to the corruption of billions of rupees. 

A division bench of the high court headed by Chief Justice Ahmed Ali M Shaikh declined to extend the bail petitions filed by Ali Raza and others.

Subsequently, a NAB team arrested them from the premises of the high court and is expected to produce them before an accountability court on Saturday (tomorrow).

A reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had alleged that the ex-NBP chief Ali Raza, former senior executive president Zubair Ahmed and other former officials committed a fraud of more than Rs18 billion. Seven Bangladeshi nationals are also among the accused facing graft charges.

The court had granted bail to the former NBP president against a surety bond to the tune of Rs 500,000.

The former NBP president had approached the high court fearing his arrest by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in connection with an inquiry regarding corruption in the NBP branch in Bangladesh.

The petitioner’s lawyer submitted that the inquiry was related to two bank employees, Zubair Ahmed and S.M. Jahanzeb, who were involved in illegal activities overseas, which caused losses worth Rs 18 billion to the national exchequer.

Raza denied his involvement in the scam, saying that being the president of the bank he was reliant on the group chiefs, who were supposed to check any irregularity on part of the 16,000 employees of the bank.