NAB’s counsel informed the court that the case has been closed by NAB, declaring it “baseless”
LAHORE:
The Lahore High Court on Thursday issued notice to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) seeking its response to a petition filed by Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz demanding repayment of Rs70 million deposited as a guarantee in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case.
A three-member full bench, headed by Chief Justice Aalia Neelum, heard the petition. Justice Jawad Zafar and Justice Abhar Gul Khan were also part of the bench.
During the hearing, NAB’s counsel informed the court that the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case had already been closed by NAB and declared it baseless. In doing so, the chief judge questioned whether the case had also been formally concluded by the relevant high court.
Responding to the query, NAB’s counsel stated that there was no requirement under the law for the approval of the trial court. However, CJ Neelum observed that even if NAB had closed the case, final approval of the concerned court was still required.
The court directed NAB to submit a detailed reply by February 4.
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Petitioner CM Maryam Nawaz filed her petition through her lawyer and claimed that the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case had been closed and declared baseless by NAB and therefore the Rs 70 million deposited as security should be returned to her.
The case relates to information received in January 2018 about a massive suspicious transaction involving billions of rupees at Chaudhry Sugar Mills under the Anti-Money Laundering Act.
Where NAB started investigation and found in October 2018 that Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz, Shahbaz Sharif and other family of late Abbas Sharif were shareholders in the company along with some foreigners from UAE and UK.
Huge investments were made in Chaudhry Sugar Mills from 2001 to 2017 to the tune of billions of rupees in the name of foreigners by issuing shares in millions to them. Later, the same shares in the company were allegedly transferred back to Maryam Nawaz, Hussain Nawaz and Nawaz Sharif at different times without paying any consideration, leading to the conclusion that the names of foreigners were used as proxies to make large investments in the company as the Sharif family had no white money for investments.
