ISLAMABAD, Aug 31: An accountability court on Saturday remanded three PTCL officers in the National Accountability Bureau’s custody for 12 days in connection with a corruption case.

The officers — Abdul Sattar, general manager PTCL, Karachi; deputy general manager development Lahore Nasir Abbas and senior accounts officer telegraph Lahore Bashir Ahmad Chaudhry — were arrested by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Friday (August 30) for their involvement in the PTCL extension project called BT in which corruption was done through local purchases involving Rs158 million.

During the proceedings, Mohammad Iqbal Qasmi, the investigating officer, told the court that the accused were involved in corruption and therefore should be remanded in NAB’s custody for further investigation.

NAB has already arrested a number of other senior officers involved in the same corruption case in which the contract was signed between China Wanbao/ZTE and the PTCL on October 17, 1998 for the installation of 305,000 digital telephone lines in the country.