LAHORE, Sept 25: A former excise collector of the CBR was arrested on Wednesday by the Punjab NAB on fresh charges of abetting in a Rs850 million corruption case.

An accountability court had on Tuesday rejected the NAB plea for extension in the custody of accused Shaukat Ali Bhatti and sent him to jail.

However, the NAB arrested Shaukat from the Lahore District Jail on charges of abetting with businessman Seth Nisar in the illegal import of a steel raw material in the name of a bogus firm, Irfan Seamless Pipe Company.

It has been alleged that Nisar, in connivance with Shaukat, had imported raw material and evaded customs duty of Rs850 million.

According to the prosecution, both the accused evaded the import duty after bribing the customs officials in Islamabad.

The accused would be produced before the court for physical custody on Thursday (today).

Seth Nisar has already been in the NAB custody on these charges.

The reference against him has been adjourned for indefinite period after he was handed over to the Peshawar NAB in connection with another corruption case.

Previously, Shaukat had been arrested by the NAB on charges of acquiring assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.

According to the NAB, Shaukat had misused his authority as a holder of public office and acquired defence saving certificates, foreign exchange bearer certificates, Wapda Bonds and cash, worth Rs140 million, kept in local currency and US dollar accounts of the Muslim Commercial Bank and the Premier Bank, Lahore.

He has also been accused of having acquired 4,000 and 3,000 shares each in the Crescent Sugar Mills and the Dewan Sugar Mills, respectively.

He had been accused of purchasing a house in Kamran Block of the Allama Iqbal Town besides purchasing one plot in the Works Division Scheme, Islamabad, and two plots in CBR Colony, Lahore.

He allegedly purchased one plot in the Government Employees Cooperative Society, Islamabad, and one kanal house in the

DHA, Lahore, besides investing Rs2.6 million in different schemes.

Shaukat along with his family has been accused of travelling frequently to the US, Canada, Germany, Singapore and other countries.