05 March 2004	Friday	13 Muharram 1425

LAHORE, March 4: The National Accountability Bureau arrested on Thursday three officers of the Bank of Punjab and one of the directors of a private company on the charges of corruption and corrupt practices.

Those arrested are; Inbisatul Hasan, director of Sakhawat Husain Bukhari (Pvt) Ltd, BoP former vice president Chaudhry Younas, BoP ex-general manager (finance) Masood Ahmad Sheikh and bank's ex-group executive administration (Lahore) Dr Asif Hafeez Sheikh.

It is alleged that the bank officers sent 2,785,074 shares of Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited of the value of Rs68 million belonging to the Bank of Punjab to M/s Sakhawat Husain Bukhari (Pvt) Ltd along with blank verified transfer deeds and illegally listed the company as their agents for brokerage.

In this way they aided and abetted the private company to misappropriate Rs68 million of the bank. They will be produced before an accountability court on March 5. -PPI