LAHORE, Nov 24: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) arrested Askari Bank Vice-President (Punjab region) Khawar Rasheed after a division bench of the Lahore High Court on Wednesday cancelled his interim bail in an embezzlement reference.

The NAB accused him of embezzling Rs200 million in accounts of Bank Al-Falah during his stint as manager operations at Cantonment (Tufail Road) branch. It said the accused in connivance with Muhammad Sajjad Khan, Misbah Shaukat and other bank officials drew huge money from various Pakistani and foreign currency accounts.

The NAB will produce the accused before an accountability court to obtain his physical remand. FIA: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) claimed on Wednesday to have arrested a former regional director of the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) on charges of misappropriating Rs11.6 million.

According to the FIA, Unicef entrusted a sum of Rs14.5 million to the accused, Abdul Rauf, who is at present serving as director, CDO, Wapda, for conducting water supplies analysis in different areas of Lahore during 2007-08.

It said the inquiry established that Mr Rauf, in connivance with others, misappropriated Rs11.6 million from the total amount.

The agency said it was conducting raids for the arrest of other accused.