Tauqir Sadiq has been arrested in Abu Dhabi on suspicion of embezzling $850m while he was head of Pakistan’s oil and gas regulatory authority between 2009 and 2011.
The BBC reported that Mr. Sadiq, who denies receiving ‘kickbacks and commissions between 2009 and 2011’, will be deported to Pakistan after the finalising of legal formalities which should be completed “within days”.
“We can confirm his [Mr Sadiq’s] arrest. He has been detained in Abu Dhabi,” said Zafar Iqbal, spokesman for Pakistan’s anti-corruption National Accountability Bureau (NAB), which has been investigating the corruption allegations, to the BBC.
Last month, Pakistan’s Supreme Court ordered a case to be registered against Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf and other senior members of the main ruling Pakistan People’s Party in connection with Sadiq’s appointment in 2009 and his escape from the county; said another report by Radio Free Europe.