ISLAMABAD: The National Account­ability Bureau, Rawalpindi, has arrested a suspect involved in cheating hundreds of people in the name of ‘investment’.

According to NAB, Abbas Haider Naqvi, Chief Executive of Karachi-based private firm Big Board Advisory Service, and four directors of the company committed offences of corruption and corrupt practices by way of cheating the public at large and criminal breach of trust.

The company with its head office at Karachi opened branch offices in different towns of Northern Areas (Gilgit-Baltistan) to collect money from innocent people.

During investigation, it came to light that the directors collected money from the general public by promising an interest rate from 18 per cent to 36pc per annum and 100pc to 150pc for an investment for five years.

NAB received 1,019 complaints involving a total liability of Rs184 million from all districts of the Northern Areas.

During investigation it was revealed that the four directors — Syed Sarosh Haider Rizvi, Mohammad Arif Khan, Mohammad Sadiq Khan and Ahmed Rehman — had already been convicted following their arrest in Karachi some time ago.

The suspect, Abbas Haider Naqvi, will be produced before an accountability court in Karachi for getting transitory remand for shifting him from Karachi to NAB Rawalpindi’s sub-office in Gilgit.

Published in Dawn, April 19th, 2017