LHC to resume hearing of Maryam Nawaz's bail petition today

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) will resume the hearing on the bail petition submitted by Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) vice president Maryam Nawaz today in Chaudhry Sugar Mills case, ARY News reported.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor will give arguments in the case as the defence lawyer concluded his arguments yesterday over the written response of the anti-corruption watchdog.

The hearing of a bail petition filed by Maryam Nawaz has been postponed by the LHC due to absence of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor.

A two-member bench headed by LHC’s Justice Ali Baqar Najafi will hear the bail petition submitted by the daughter of the former premier, Maryam Nawaz, where a plea was submitted to postpone the hearing by NAB director-general.

Background

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz, Hamza Shehbaz and Yousaf Abbas are being investigated in the reference filed by the accountability bureau over alleged money laundering through Chaudhry Sugar Mills investigation in the month of August.

NAB Chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal had issued arrest warrants of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif on October 04.

During the probe, it was revealed that a $15 million loan was taken on the pretext to set up the Chaudhry Sugar mills despite the fact that it had already been established before the loan was acquired, the special assistant claimed. He had added that the loan was never transferred to Pakistan as shown by the record of the State Bank of Pakistan.

The probe stated that more than Rs7 million worth of shares were transferred to PML-N vice president Maryam Nawaz in 2008 through mill’s shares, which were later transferred to Yousuf Abbas Sharif, son of the late Abbas Sharif, in 2010.