LAHORE - Ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s daughter Maryam Nawaz was arrested from Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail, shortly after she reached the high-security prison to meet her jailed father.
A NAB spokesman said the PML-N leader was arrested in connection with a corruption probe. Her cousin Yousaf Abbas Sharif was also arrested in the same case.
“The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has arrested Maryam Nawaz and Yousaf Abbas in the case related to Chaudhry Sugar Mills,” the spokesman said in a press statement.
He said a team of doctors will conduct medical examination of both the suspects, and they will be produced before an accountability court in Lahore for physical remand, most likely on Friday (today).
An official of the anti-corruption authority last night told The Nation that Maryam was required to appear before a combined investigation team on Thursday but she skipped the appearance and went to see her father in jail.
Relatives are allowed to meet Nawaz Sharif in the prison cell only on Thursdays.
Maryam reportedly courted her arrest after she was shown the arrest warrants by NAB officials.
Nawaz Sharif’s personal physician Dr Andan Khan claimed that the PML-N vice president was arrested in the presence of her father and teenage daughter.
“Maryam Nawaz arrested inside the Kot Lakhpat Jail in front of her ailing father. She was on weekly scheduled visit to see her father,” he tweeted.
The NAB official said Maryam was shifted to Lahore NAB office where she would be kept in a well-furnished room called “Daycare Center.” Several policewomen are also deployed outside the daycare center.
Sources in the PML-N said that the party leader was taken into custody when she was sitting along with her father inside the prison. Earlier, hundreds of PML-N supporters welcomed her chanting slogans and showering rose petals on her vehicle as she arrived at the main gate of the prison.
NAB officials after taking her into custody speedily left the prison in a convoy while PML-N workers were waiting outside. The party workers staged a strong protest demonstration and condemned the arrest of their leader. They chanted anti-government slogans.
Early this week, NAB issued call-up notices to Maryam and asked her to appear before the investigation team in Lahore on August 8.
The former PM’s daughter was also directed to provide complete details of her shares in the sugar mills in addition to the details of financial relations with some foreign nationals. She was further told to provide details of remittances and telegraphic transfers sent and received by her from abroad.
On July 31, Maryam had appeared before NAB investigators in Lahore to record her statement in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills reference. Reportedly, the case is about certain ‘dubious’ business transactions of the sugar mills, of which she is said to be a major shareholder.
According to NAB claims, an inquiry had been launched in October 2018 which detected that Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz, Shehbaz Sharif and the family of the late Abbas Sharif are shareholders in the company, along with some foreigners hailing from the UAE and the UK.
Last year, Islamabad Accountability Court convicted Nawaz and Maryam in the Avenfield properties reference and sentenced them to 10 years and seven years imprisonment, respectively. However, the Islamabad High Court suspended the sentence and Maryam was released.
