MULTAN: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Multan arrested three suspects involved in a Rs34.5m scam.

The bureau produced the suspects, namely Riaz Hussain and his two sons, Muhammad Faisal and Daanish Riaz, before an accountability court which granted it physical custody of the suspects for 14 days.

According to an official handout, the suspects had been arrested in connection with investigation intoRs34.5m embezzlement by the owners of the Pak Kor Biogas Company Multan. The suspects had collected the abovementioned amount from at least 54 people, closed down their business and went into hiding.

`NAB Multan received 54 complaints and an investigation was authorised on Dec 11, 2017. During the investigation, the charges leveled against the suspects for cheating the public at large have been established,` it stated.

Hussain, owner of the Pak Kor Biogas Company, and his sons offered to establish pesticide fran-chises for which they signed agreements with the af fectees.

`Initially, Hussain managed the loan of Rs500,000 from Apna Microfinance Bank Sahiwal and Multan for establishing the business of selling pesticides through 71 franchisees. After issuance of the bank loan, the accused persons collected the amount from bank and cashed cheques obtained from affectees,` the handout added.

The suspects f ailed to supply pesticide products to their `franchises` and went into hiding after closing down the company`s Multan of fice.