LAHORE: An accountability court on Thursday sent the vice president (VP) of the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) Main Branch, Usman Saeed, to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on an 11-day physical remand.
NAB had produced the VP before the court following his arrest on the orders of NAB Lahore Director General Shahzad Saleem in a bid to “tighten the noose around the corrupt”.
The bureau has been digging into complaints pertaining to the embezzlement of billions of rupees allegedly being committed in the Foreign Exchange Department of NBP’s Lahore branch.
During the course of investigations, the alleged involvement of the VP in the Foreign Exchange Department corruption had unearthed along with that of different Private Mega Business Groups who reportedly are involved in the business of evading Letter of Credit (LC) amounts.
Earlier, the NAB officials had carried out a raid at the branch and confiscated all the required records, wherein, the involvement of 13 Mega Business Groups and NBP officials in causing a loss to the tune of Rs2 to 3 billion to the national treasure had been revealed.
The business groups allegedly involved in the scam include Cresent Jute, Ittefaq Sons, Kashmir Funds, PEL, Sargodha Jute, AZ Gard Nine, Big Feed, United Foam, Yousaf Weaving, Escorts Pakistan, Olympia Oils and Sajjad Textile to name a few.
Further probe is underway to dig out any further involvement of other bank officials and the said companies.