A SCOTTISH businessman has been arrested and detained in Pakistan in connection with an alleged #143m international banking fraud, police confirmed yesterday.
Glasgow-born consultant Samuel Tennent is being held in prison after he was tracked down by officers investigating claims that forged bank bonds were used in a series of financial scams including a bid to buy a London hotel.
Mr Tennent, 49, was arrested last Friday by members of Pakistan's Federal Investigation Authority (FIA) in a hotel in Karachi and remanded in custody for 15 days by a special court. He has yet to be charged with any offence.
He was working as the British agent for a US-registered company called the Tacoma Group - thought to be involved in international oil and gas projects - and is understood to have denied any involvement in fraud.
According to reports in a Karachi-based English-language newspaper, senior officials from two Pakistani banks, the National Bank of Pakistan and Habib Bank, are also being investigated in connection with Mr Tennent's arrest.
FIA sources have stressed their investigation is still at an early stage and they are concentrating their efforts on locating other suspects in the Karachi area.
City of London Police later confirmed that two British officers working on an international fraud case were also staying at the same hotel at the time of Mr Tennent's arrest.
A force spokesman admitted that Mr Tennent was known to police in London, but strongly rejected suggestions that the officers visited Karachi specifically to have him arrested.
The spokesman said: ''Mr Tennent was arrested by the Pakistani authorities, but his arrest was not initiated by the visit of City of London Police. Pakistan police are conducting their own investigations into fraud offences. We were not seeking to arrest Mr Tennent and did not ask the Pakistan authorities to arrest him.''
Foreign Office officials added that consular staff had been to see Mr Tennent in jail and reported that he was being well looked after.
He added: ''Consular staff have been in to visit him and they will be visiting him again during the course of this week for an update. We understand the charges are to do with alleged financial fraud.''
Sources close to the British end of the investigation said it was unlikely at this stage that London police would try to bring Mr Tennent back for trial in the UK. Pakistan has no formal extradition treaty with Britain.
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