‘Frontman’ of fake DG NAB remanded for defrauding public

An accountability court remanded a suspect in the custody of the National Accountability Bureau on Thursday in a case pertaining to scamming the public through impersonation.

According to NAB, Saqib Ashraf had taken Rs18 million from members of the public on behalf of a person who was impersonated as director general of the anti-graft watchdog in Karachi. The accountability courts administrative judge, Abdul Ghani Soomro, placed Ashraf in NAB’s custody on physical remand for 10 days, directing the investigation officer of the case to conclude the investigation by the next hearing.

The IO told the court that the suspect was caught red- handed on September 8 while he was collecting money from a person on behalf of Khalid Hussain Solangi, an absconder who had been extorting people in the name of NAB.

He said Solangi had been allegedly impersonating himself as DG NAB Karachi, and, by threatening different private persons and government officers, he had collected huge sums from them.

He said Solangi was on the run while his son Aamir Hussain was already in custody. He added that Hussain colluded with his father in extorting people and harming the reputation of NAB. The IO had requested the court to grant him two weeks’ remand of Ashraf to interrogate him about the whereabouts of the main suspect; however, the judge approved 10 days’ remand only.