LAHORE: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Saturday arrested senior Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Qasim Zia in a fraud case pertaining to 100 million rupees.

A spokesperson for the anti-corruption body told Dawn that the accused was arrested last night in the 100-million fraud case for cheating public at large.

"The accused has been apprehended on allegations of cheating public at large, misappropriation, embezzlement of funds and criminal breach of trust. The accused, along with other directors, fraudulently deprived general public of their hard earned money," said a spokesperson from NAB.

He was arrested for selling fraudulent shares of Ali Osman Securities of which he is one of the directors, the spokesperson further said, adding that another director of the company was also arrested.

A number of people had filed complaints with NAB over which they held an initial inquiry and arrested the accused persons, the spokesperson added.

The accountability court handed the accused persons on a 14-day physical remand to the investigating team.

Elected twice from Faisalabad’s constituency PP-59, Zia served as a member of Punjab Assembly from 2002-2007, and from 2008-2013.

He functioned as Leader of Opposition in the Punjab Assembly during his earlier term from 2002-2007.

Zia was appointed president of Pakistan Hockey Federation in 2008 and served as the federation's chief till 2013. He is an Olympic Gold Medalist in the field of hockey, and also remained a member of the Pakistan's national hockey team from 1980-87.

Additional reporting by Mateen Haider