The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Friday filed a plea in the Supreme Court challenging the Lahore High Court’s (LHC) decision to grant bail to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Maryam Nawaz, a private TV channel reported.
In its petition, the watchdog argued that the court had not considered the case records ‘in the correct manner’. It added that due to the LHC’s decision, the prosecution’s case has also been affected. The accountability watchdog appealed to the court to cancel Maryam’s bail and declare the LHC’s order as null and void.
Last month, Maryam had been granted bail in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills (CSM) case, in which she is a suspect, for an indefinite period by the LHC. While the high court had reserved its verdict on October 31, it was announced on November 4.
In its petition filed on Friday, the NAB argued that the LHC, 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.
NAB’s petition further said 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 heavy amounts being the main shareholder of the mills. The NAB has also alleged that she 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 urged the Supreme Court to allow NAB to ‘examine the legality, propriety and vires’ of the LHC verdict. It further prayed that the top court set aside the high court’s decision and cancel Maryam’s bail in the ‘interest of justice’.
The PML-N leader had been arrested along with her cousin Yousuf Abbas by NAB in the CSM corruption case on August 8. On September 25, they were sent to jail on judicial remand by an accountability court in Lahore. The PML-N vice president had approached LHC on September 30 seeking post-arrest bail in the case. 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.
