Former Pakistan PM’s daughter Maryam remanded in NAB custody till Aug.21

Tariq Butt, Staff Reporter

An accountability court in Lahore on Friday granted the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) physical remand of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam and her cousin Yousuf Abbas until Aug.21.

Outside the courtroom, a clash took place between police and PML-N workers including women. The activists pelted stones on policemen. One cop was injured. PML-N member of the Punjab Assembly Uzma Bokhari fell unconscious because of the fracas.

Supporters of Maryam Nawaz shout slogans and burn tyre before her appearance for the court proceedings in Lahore. Reuters

Lawyers also clashed with police. As the proceedings began, the court stopped workers and lawyers from taking selfies with Maryam inside the premises and asked them not to spoil the decorum of the courtroom. The PML-N workers burnt tyres outside the judicial complex while chanting slogans against the government.

Maryam also spoke to the reporters and slammed the Imran Khan government.

After hearing the arguments of the two sides, the court earlier reserved its verdict that it announced after sometime.

Accountability court judge Naeem Arshad heard NAB's request for 15-day physical remand of the two accused. Special prosecutor

Hafiz Asadullah and Haris Qureshi presented arguments on behalf of the NAB. Advocate Amjad Pervez was in the court on behalf of Maryam and her cousin.

The court asked when the inquiry against Maryam was initiated to which the NAB prosecutor responded that prior to her arrest, she had been summoned but she failed to appear before the investigators.

The judge asked when the proceedings were held in the Supreme Court over the Panama Papers against the Sharif, why the NAB did not talk about Maryam’s shares in the Chaudhry Sugar Mill.

Police officers escort a vehicle carrying Maryam Nawaz to attend court proceedings in Lahore. Reuters 

The NAB officer said that initially Maryam had shares of over Rs800,000 and in 2008 there were shares worth Rs0.41 billion in her name. He said that she was asked who the foreign investor was but had refused to respond.

Asadullah said that suspicious transactions had been carried out in Maryam's bank accounts. He added that NAB had summoned her twice.

He said that Maryam was a shareholder of Chaudhry Sugar Mill while Abbas had been a shareholder as well as director.

The NAB lawyer said that Maryam did not provide satisfactory answers to their questions, adding that shares that she had purchased in 2008 were transferred to her father, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, in 2015. The NAB presented a list of questions to which Maryam had not responded.

Maryam also met her cousin, leader of the opposition in the Punjab Assembly Hamza Shahbaz, also under the NAB custody, inside the court premises.