LAHORE: An accountability court on Wednesday sent Maryam Nawaz and her cousin Yousaf Abbas to jail on judicial remand in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case. Maryam and Abbas had appeared before the court today after the expiration of their physical remand.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had requested a 15-day extension in the remand of the PML-N leader who was arrested along with her cousin last month. Yousaf Abbas, a cousin of Maryam Nawaz Sharif, has also been arrested by NAB.
During today’s hearing, NAB’s investigating officer Hafiz Asadullah said the request for an extension was made on the grounds that there was more time required to investigate the case.
The NAB investigating officer told the court that during the investigation they had found out about an agreement for the division of the family assets.
“The shares were divided between Nawaz Sharif, Shehbaz Sharif, Abbas Sharif, Kulsoom and Shamim Begum,” he told the court.
Asadullah further said, according to Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan’s (SECP) record, in 2008, Chaudhry Sugar Mills shares were valued at Rs26.2 million, however, during the investigation, there was a difference of nearly Rs1 million.
He further said in 2015, Chaudhry Sugar Mills was shifted from Gojra to Rahim Yar Khan and during that Rs1.5billion was spent. “We still need to ascertain where the money came from which was spent during the move,” he noted.
“Three foreigners sent shares in 2008 to Maryam Nawaz, while shares worth Rs4.8 million were transferred to Yousaf Abbas,” Asadullah said.
The investigative officer said the money was transferred to give benefit to Chaudhry Sugar Mills directors and shareholders.
On the other hand, Maryam’s lawyer Amjad Pervaiz told the court when Chaudhry Sugar Mills was created, his clients were underage and that the entire Sharif family was a shareholder in Chaudhry Sugar Mills. He added all the documents that NAB had asked for had been handed to them.
During the day’s proceedings, the court asked what Maryam’s date of birth was. NAB’s investigative officer said that she was born in 1973 but he did not know the date of her birth.Maryam added that she was born on October 28, 1973.
The court after hearing the arguments from both the sides rejected the accountability watchdog’s request for an extension in the remand of Maryam and Abbas and ordered the two be sent to jail on judicial remand. The court also ordered both the suspects to be presented on October 9.
