‘NAB’s cases, arrest warrants are attempts to silence me’ | The Express Tribune

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz requested the Lahore High Court (LHC) to dismiss NAB’s petition ‘with special costs’ owing to being frivolous and vexatious.

According to Express, the PML-N leader’s written remarks were a response to NAB as last month, the country’s anti-graft body moved LHC seeking cancellation of bail granted to Maryam in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case.

In a petition filed by the NAB chairman, through the Prosecutor General of Punjab, it was argued that Maryam Nawaz is misusing her bail as she refuses to appear before the bureau despite repeated summons.

In a written statement, Maryam said that “NAB remained silent for 14 months in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case. NAB’s cases and arrests are an attempt to suppress the voice. The Supreme Court should dismiss NAB’s request [to cancel bail] and impose a fine.”

“She remained in NAB’s custody on physical remand for a period of 48 days, she was thoroughly interrogated as to her entire career including all her assets, both moveable and immovable, she furnished whatever information was available and concealed nothing, finally the request by NAB for further extension in her physical remand was turned down by the accountability court”. The delay had been on part of NAB, the statement added.

The written response added that answering respondent is a law-abiding citizen, she is a known democrat, she is a true believer of the rule of law, accountability across the board and independence of institutions including the respondent bureau’s; its matter of record that notwithstanding reasonable belief as to use of bureau as an agency for political engineering and victimisation, answering respondent has extended full cooperation, furnished information, submitted written replies and entered an appearance as and when required. Moreover, the contents of preliminary submissions are reiterated herein.

The request further added that in response to a call up notice, she appeared before NAB office on August 11, 2020 but she was not joined into inquiry despite her presence at the gate of NAB office, rather, state machinery and heavy contingent of police force were used brutally and ruthlessly to intimidate and harass the answering respondent and law-abiding members of her political party who had gathered just to show solidarity and concern for registration of series of politically motivated cases by the Bureau at the instance of the government; even deliberate attempts to cause serious and fatal injury to the answering respondent were also made, the unfortunate events taking place on that day were watched live by the whole nation and are now a matter public knowledge; the irony of the matter did not end there and the petitioner bureau managed to lodge an FIR under the cover of which numerous innocent persons were arrested; the prosecution story could not sustain even at the stage of tentative assessment and pre-arrest bails were confirmed by the court of competent jurisdiction.

NAB accused Maryam of money laundering Rs2 billion in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case. A two-member bench of the LHC had granted her bail on November 4, 2019.

During the hearing, the NAB lawyer prayed the inquiry against Maryam turned into an investigation and she was misusing her bail.

Read more: Maryam granted pre-arrest bail ahead of NAB March 26 hearing

She was summoned for questioning on bail but did not appear. Instead of appearing, they pelted stones at the NAB office, the lawyer had prayed.

On March 24, it was reported, LHC has granted pre-arrest bail to PML-N de facto chief Maryam Nawaz, who was summoned by the top graft buster – the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) – on March 26 for interrogation with regard to a land allotment case.

The PML-N had requested LHC Chief Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan to place Maryam’s pre-arrest bail application for immediate hearing before a bench.

Azam Nazir Tarar, counsel for Maryam, told the court that NAB could arrest the PML-N leader. He said in the recent past NAB had often summoned people in connection with one case but arrested them upon arrival at the NAB building on some other charges.

The CJ directed the concerned deputy registrar to immediately place the case for hearing before a bench. He also ordered deputy superintendent police (DSP) security to escort Maryam and other PML-N leaders to the concerned courtroom.