HYDERABAD: The Hyderabad Accountability Court on Friday extended the remand of a business tycoon, Iqbal Z. Ahmed, till Oct 21 after National Accountability Bureau (NAB) sought the extension for his further interrogation in an alleged money-laundering scam involving billions of rupees.

The suspect’s counsel Farooq H. Naek, opposing NAB’s request, argued that in the last 10 days of remand, interrogation for only 30 minutes had been done by NAB investigators according to his client.

Therefore, he argued, there was no justification for further remand. However, when NAB’s investigating officer told the court that it would be the last extension to be sought, the defence counsel did not raise an objection.

Ahmed is accused of laundering billions of rupees through the bank accounts of his companies including JJVL, Associated Group, Lube Gas Ltd etc.

Published in Dawn, October 12th, 2019