Islamabad, Aug 20: Pakistani authorities have arrested a senior former bureaucrat and issued warrants to another on corruption charges, media reports today said.Salman Farooqi, commerce secretary during the reign of former premier Benazir Bhutto, was arrested here on Tuesday on corruption charges by the federal intelligence agency (FIA) on the directive of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's accountability cell.The government has also issued warrants against Benazir Bhutto's special assistant on economic affairs, Shahid Hasan Khan, for alleged irregularities in the privatisation process of a power company, according to media reports.As per the investigations conducted by the accountability cell, Farooqi, on the instructions of Asif Zardari, had directed a government department to arrange Rs five crore for the Pakistan People's Party (PPP).Farooqi has been charged with misuse of his official position as secretary and thereby depriving the national exchequer of millions of rupees. Interestingly, Farooqi was considered to be the right handman of Nawaz Sharif during his first tenure as Prime Minister from 1990-93 but later when Benazir came to power in 1993 he became associated with her husband.
