Former prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif will be presented before an accountability court in Lahore today in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case.
Strict security measures have been put in place, with routes leading to the accountability court have been closed ahead of the PML-N leader’s appearance.
Nawaz is currently incarcerated in Kot Lakhpat Jail after his conviction in the Al-Aziza Steel Mills reference.
According to details, NAB is likely to arrest Nawaz in a new money-laundering case from jail and present him in a court of law for securing his physical remand.
NAB said, the accused committed money-laundering for purchasing shares in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills. Nawaz's daughter Maryam is also on judicial remand in the same jail in connection with Chaudhry Sugar Mills case. Nawaz's nephew Yousaf Abbas is at Camp Jail on judicial remand in the same case.
Furthermore, NAB Lahore decided to arrest Nawaz after taking permission from an accountability court to investigate him in the Kot Lakhpat jail.
On Thursday, the NAB Lahore, through its Prosecutor Hafiz Asad, pleaded with an accountability court that the accountability watchdog wanted to interrogate Nawaz Sharif in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case.
The prosecutor stated that Nawaz could not appear in the NAB office as a prisoner; therefore, the court should allow the bureau to investigate him in jail. He argued that the bureau had found some documents proving that Nawaz was a direct beneficiary of Chaudhry Sugar Mills.
After this, NAB chairman issued arrest warrants for the PML-N leader. The court, after hearing NAB prosecutor and witnessing the documents presented by NAB, allowed the bureau to investigate Nawaz in jail.
However, sources in the bureau claimed that NAB officials would arrest Nawaz Sharif as they had concrete evidence of his involvement in money-laundering, and he was a direct beneficiary of Chaudhry Sugar Mills.
If the court allowed physical custody, Nawaz would be shifted to the NAB Lahore office, sources added.
