Maryam Nawaz remanded in custody of Pak’s anti-graft body till August 21

PTI, Aug 9, 2019, 4:48 PM IST

Lahore: A Pakistani court on Friday remanded Maryam Nawaz, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s daughter, and her cousin in the custody of the country’s anti-corruption authority till August 21 in a money laundering case.

Maryam and her cousin Yousaf Abbas Sharif were arrested from the Kot Lakhpat jail here on Thursday in connection to the Chaudhry Sugar Mills (CSM) case while the 45-year-old PML-N vice president was on her way back from visiting her father, who is lodged in the same prison.

She was supposed to appear before the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Thursday for questioning in the sugar mills inquiry but she sought more time for submitting her response and went to meet her father in jail instead. She was arrested for not appearing before the anti-graft watchdog.

Sharif’s daughter and nephew were presented in the accountability court here. The NAB had requested a 15-day physical remand but the court approved a 12-day physical remand of the two accused, the Express Tribune reported.

At the start of the hearing, accountability court judge Naeem Arshad asked the NAB prosecutor to detail the reasons why the bureau had initiated an inquiry against Maryam.

The NAB prosecutor told the court that Maryam was a shareholder of Chaudhry Sugar Mills and she failed to give satisfactory answers to their queries.

The NAB officials presented a list of questions in the court which they claimed were not answered by the PML-N leader.

According to the bureau, Yousaf’s bank account was used to launder money.

The government has accused the Sharif family of using the sugar mills for money laundering and availing millions of rupees in subsidy without actually exporting sugar.

The daycare centre at the NAB headquarters was declared a sub-jail and female police officials were deployed for Maryam’s security.

A NAB team also raided the home of Maryam’s uncle Shehbaz Sharif, the PML-N president and leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, in search of another one of her cousins, Abdul Aziz, an official said on condition of anonymity.

Her arrest came the day after she accused Prime Minister Imran Khan of “fall of Kashmir” and demanded registration of a treason case against him. Besides, she has been challenging the powerful military establishment for installing the Khan government through a stolen mandate.