KARACHI, Aug 15: The administrative judge of accountability courts remanded Darayus Cyrus Minwala, former employee of Cathay Pacific Airways, in judicial custody in a PIA aircraft scam case.

The accused was wanted by the National Accountability Bureau in a reference for causing a huge loss to the national exchequer in dubious deals of six worn-out aircraft from the Cathay Pacific to Pakistan International Airlines.

He was arrested on Monday night on his arrival at the airport from Dubai.

According to a NAB spokesman, the reference against Minwala, Rashid Hassan of the PIA, and Pervaiz Hussain, a private beneficiary, was filed on June 1 for their involvement in the commission of scheduled offences under Section 9 of the NAB Ordinance 1999 and offences of corruption and corrupt practices, punishable under Section 10 of the NAB ordinance.

The other accused, including former director of PIA Corporate Planning Rashid Hassan and private beneficiary Pervaiz Hussain, were charged with receiving a proportionate share out of the ill-gotten money for induction of six B-747-300 aircraft into the PIA fleet.

The spokesman said that the director-general of the NAB Sindh under Section 12 of the NAB Ordinance had also frozen the moveable and immovable assets of the accused, including defunct Hotel Metropole.

The decision regarding freezing of Minwala’s assets was confirmed by the accountability court.