Chaudhry sugar mills case: NAB decides to freeze assets of Maryam

LAHORE (92 News) – The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Friday decided to freeze assets of Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) leader Maryam Nawaz and his cousin Yousaf Abbas in Chaudhry Sugar Mills case. According to the sources, the corruption watchdog body has decided to stop the transferring and selling of assets related to Maryam Nawaz and his cousin. In this purpose, the NAB will write a letters to various departments for freezing all properties owned by Maryam and Yousaf Abbas. Currently, Maryam and Yousaf Abbas is under custody of the anti-graft watchdog body. On August 8, the NAB had arrested Maryam along with her cousin Yousaf Abbas in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case. In the previous hearing, Accountability court judge Naeem Arshad heard NAB’s request for 15-day physical remand of the two. Special prosecutor Hafiz Asadullah and Haris Qureshi presented arguments on behalf of the accountability watchdog. Advocate Amjad Pervez is at the court on behalf of Maryam and her cousin. During the proceedings, Asadullah said that suspicious transactions had been carried out in Maryam’s bank accounts. He added that NAB had summoned her twice. Asadullah said that Maryam was a shareholder of CSM while Abbas had been a shareholder as well as director. The NAB lawyer said that Maryam did not provide satisfactory answers to their questions, adding that shares that she had purchased in 2008 were transferred to her father former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in 2015. According to the NAB lawyer, Abbas’s account was used for money laundering. He added that after money came into his account, it was transferred to the CSM. The accountability court judge asked what had happened in the Panama Paper case to which the NAB lawyer responded that in the case, three references were to be submitted including one regarding CSM. The judge asked why Maryam’s shares had not come up during the earlier case to which the NAB investigative officer said that it had been mentioned in the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) report. Later, the court approved 12 days remand for Maryam Nawaz and his cousin.