Sharif, daughter arrested for graft on arrival in Pak
Officials from anti-corruption body at airport take them into custody
Lahore, July 13: Pakistan’s former prime minister Nawaz Sharif along with his daughter Maryam were arrested tonight on their return to the country after they were convicted in a corruption case, less than two weeks before the country goes to polls.
The plane carrying Sharif and Maryam landed at Lahore’s Allama Iqbal Airport at 9.15 IST, nearly three hours late from the scheduled arrival.
The Etihad Airways flight EY243 arrived here from Abu Dhabi. Earlier they flew to the UAE capital from London, where Sharif ’s ailing wife is hospitalised.
Officials from Pakistan’s anti-graft body were present at the airport to take them into custody after their conviction in the Evenfield properties case linked to his family’s ownership of four luxury flats in London.
Both Sharif, 68, and Maryam, 44, have been convicted by an accountability court for 10 and 7 years imprisonment respectively.
The National Accountability Bureau and caretaker government have announced that they would be taken into custody upon their arrival at the airport.
“A team of NAB is present at the Lahore airport and arrest the convicted Nawaz and Maryam from there,” a spokesman of NAB, Nawzish Asim, said.
A helicopter is present at the airport to take them to Islamabad from there they will be sent to Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi after producing them to the accountability court.
Their flight, Etihad Airways flight EY243, was earlier scheduled to land at Lahore’s Allama Iqbal International Airport at 6.15 pm local time.
Dawn newspaper quoting an airport official said the reason for the hold-up was a delay in an Etihad flight arriving in Abu Dhabi from Bangkok, which is supposed to fly EY243’s passengers to Lahore.
While waiting at the Abu Dhabi airport’s lounge, Sharif told media outlets that he wondered how a flight “that is never late” has been delayed on Friday and urged people to “think about who delayed this flight and why.” — PTI