Business tycoon Iqbal Z Ahmed arrested in graft case

Prominent businessman and industrialist Iqbal Z Ahmed was Saturday arrested in Hyderabad after an accountability court refused to extend his bail in a corruption case in which the national exchequer suffered a loss of Rs29 billion.

Two sons of the businessman — who is the chairman of the Associated Group — are also among those arrested in the case. A reference under the Money Laundering Act was filed against Ahmed, which was approved by the National Accountability Bureau's (NAB) then-chairman in December 2013.

Ahmed, who is known as an energy entrepreneur in Pakistan, is the owner of several companies including the Jamshoro Joint Venture Limited.

The businessman was booked in the case after transactions worth billions of rupees were made from his companies in other countries including the United Kingdom, the reference read.

Ahmed's name has surfaced in multiple graft cases through the years including the Rs22 billion Rental Power Projects (RPPs) reference in which the anti-graft watchdog had booked then-prime minister and now Speaker of National Assembly Raja Pervez Ashraf.

In November 2014, Ahmed had obtained a stay order against the proceedings conducted by NAB.

In another graft case about an LPG deal by the Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDCL) in October 2013, NAB informed the media about recovering more than Rs2.28bn in cash from officials and private players, which also included the head of the Associated Group.

Iqbal was accused of making illicit transactions through a money exchange, while he was already embroiled in the rental power projects scam in 2013. He had allegedly sent Rs1.74bn abroad to get foreign exchange to make payments for his own companies and those of others.