Authorities arrested on Saturday prominent businessman and industrialist Iqbal Ahmed in Hyderabad after an accountability court refused to extend his bail. Two of his sons were also arrested.
Ahmed, who is the chairman of the Associated Group and owns the Jamshoro Joint Venture Limited, has been contesting a 10-year-old reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) under the Money Laundering Act for allegedly causing losses worth Rs29 billion to the national exchequer.
The businessman was accused of conducting transactions worth billions of rupees from his companies in other countries, including the United Kingdom.
Two sons of the businessman have also been arrested in the case.
A known energy entrepreneur, Ahmed has been named in several graft cases over the years, including the Rs22 billion Rental Power Projects (RPPs) reference in which the anti-graft watchdog had booked former prime minister and Speaker of the National Assembly Raja Pervez Ashraf.
He was also implicated in the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) deal by the Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDCL) in October 2013, with NAB claiming that they had recovered more than Rs2.28 billion in cash from officials and private players, including Ahmed.
Iqbal is also accused of making illicit transactions through a money exchange while embroiled in the rental power projects scam in 2013. He allegedly transacted Rs1.74 billion abroad to obtain foreign exchange to pay for his companies and those of others.