NAB challenges Maryam Nawaz’s bail in SC

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) challenged in the Supreme Court the bail granted to PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz by the Lahore High Court (LHC), on Friday.

Maryam Nawaz was granted bail in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills (CSM) case last month, in which she is a suspect, for an indefinite period by the LHC. The Lahore high court reserved its verdict on October 31 and announced it on November 4.

In the petition filed today, by the NAB stated that the Lahore High court in granting post-arrest bail to the PML-N leader, might have “fallen in error” because it did not consider the “cardinal principle of criminal law as envisaged under the provisions of Section 9(b) of NAO, (National Accountability Ordinance) 1999”. As per Section 9 (b) of NAO, all offences under the Ordinance are non-bailable.

The petition further urged that the LHC might have also ignored previous Supreme Court orders in this regard. The accountability watchdog pointed out that Maryam is suspected of involvement in money laundering through investments of variable heavy amounts being the main shareholder of the CSM.

NAB also alleges that Maryam Nawaz was involved in money laundering with the help of some foreigners during the period of 1992-93 when her father Nawaz Sharif was the prime minister.

The anti-corruption bureau has urged the Supreme Court to allow NAB to “examine the legality, propriety and vires” of the LHC verdict.

The filed petition further prayed that the top court sets aside the high court’s decision and cancels Maryam’s bail in the “interest of justice”.