Pakistan opposition leader Maryam Nawaz, her cousin arrested in corruption case
The National Accountability Bureau has traced numerous telegraphic transfers by the Sharif family in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Maryam Nawaz was on Thursday arrested by the National Accountability Bureau while attempting to visit her father and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif at a jail in Lahore, where he is being held after being convicted of graft, Dawn reported.
Maryam Nawaz was arrested with her cousin Yousaf Abbas in connection with the sugar mill owned by the family, Dawn reported citing an official press release issued by the bureau. The daily added that both of them will be presented before an accountability court in Lahore for remand on Friday.
“Maryam and Abbas have been arrested in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case,” Azma Bukhari, a spokesperson for Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party told Reuters.
Maryam Nawaz had excused herself from appearing before the anti-corruption bureau on Thursday and had gone to meet Sharif in the Kot Lakhpat Jail. “They have been arrested but where they will be kept will be decided by our headquarters in Islamabad,” an spokesperson for the National Accountability Bureau in Lahore said. A team of doctors will conduct a medical examination on both the accused.
The bureau had reportedly traced numerous telegraphic transfers worth millions of Pakistani rupees by the Sharif family and the end beneficiaries included Maryam Nawaz and other owners of the Chaudhry Sugar Mills. The bureau had also inquired about how and where the shares were divided since the inception of the mill in 1985.
Maryam Nawaz was questioned by the anti-corruption bureau on July 31 but there was no clarity in her answers and she provided unnecessary information, according to ARY News.
Maryam Nawaz is one of the few opposition figures to openly criticise Prime Minister Imran Khan and Pakistan’s powerful military. She has accused Khan of responsibility for the “fall of Kashmir” and demanded registration of a treason case against him. Khan has denied that the cases against the Sharifs are politically motivated.