Qasim Zia. PHOTO: FILE
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has arrested the former president of Pakistan Peoples Party’s Punjab chapter for his alleged involvement in stock market fraud worth Rs100 million.
NAB officials apprehended Qasim Zia early Saturday on charges of cheating the public at large, misappropriation, embezzlement of funds and criminal breach of trust, a statement issued by the bureau said.
He was arrested, along with Muhammad Usman Saeed, the other director of the company.
Both Zia and Saeed were presented before a Lahore accountability court later in the day. The court allowed NAB to keep both the accused in custody for 14 days.
According to NAB, Zia and Saeed sold fraudulent shares to several clients through their company Ali Usman Securities, “depriving the general public of their hard earned money.”
More than 80 victims of the alleged fraud filed complaints against the PPP leader and his associate, prompting the director general of the NAB Lahore office launched a formal inquiry, the bureau statement said.
The former president of the PPP wing in Punjab, Qasim Zia served as a member of the Punjab Assembly from 2002 to 2007 and from 2008 to 2013. He was elected from PP-59 Faisalabad-IX on both times. Zia also functioned as the leader of the opposition in his earlier term as a provincial legislator. Between 2008 and 2013, the PPP leader also served as the president of the Pakistan Hockey Federation.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 9th, 2015.
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