The Lahore High Court (LHC) granted bail to PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case today.
The legal representatives of Maryam and National Accountability Bureau (NAB) are present in the court.
A two-member bench of the high court comprising Justice Ali Baqar Najafi and Justice Sardar Ahmad Naeem had reserved its verdict in the case on October 31 after both the petitioner and NAB had concluded their arguments.
The PML-N vice president had approached the high court on September 30 seeking post-arrest bail in the case, in which she is suspected of money laundering.
Following the sudden deterioration in the health of her father, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, she then filed a miscellaneous petition on October 24 seeking immediate bail on the basis of fundamental rights and humanitarian reasons. On October 29, the Islamabad High Court suspended the former premier's sentence in the Al Azizia case for eight weeks.
Before the court reserved its verdict on Maryam's bail plea, NAB's additional prosecutor general Jahanzaib Bharwana had opposed her request for bail on humanitarian grounds and said: "It has been established by Supreme Court's verdicts that a suspect can only be granted bail in extraordinary circumstances.
"Maryam Nawaz's case does not qualify as an extraordinary one."
The PML-N leader had been allowed to see her father once last month when she herself was admitted to the Services Hospital due to some health complaints. The development came after a request was sent by the party to the Punjab Home Department asking for special permission to be granted.
Maryam and her cousin Yousuf Abbas were arrested by NAB on August 8 in the Sugar Mills case. Later, on September 25, they were sent to jail on judicial remand by an accountability court in Lahore.