Maryam Nawaz, Yousuf Abbas remanded in NAB custody until August 21
An accountability court in Lahore on Friday granted the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) physical remand of PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz and her cousin Yousuf Abbas until August 21.
The court had earlier reserved its verdict on NAB's request for the duo's 15-day physical remand. Following the hearing, Maryam was driven away from the court by NAB officials.
A day earlier, the PML-N vice president and her cousin were arrested by the anti-corruption watchdog in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills (CSM) case.
Accountability court judge Naeem Arshad heard NAB's request for 15-day physical remand of the two. Special prosecutor Hafiz Asadullah and Haris Qureshi presented arguments on behalf of the accountability watchdog. Advocate Amjad Pervez was in the court on behalf of Maryam and her cousin.
During the proceedings, Asadullah said that suspicious transactions had been carried out in Maryam's bank accounts. He added that NAB had summoned her twice.
Asadullah said that Maryam was a shareholder of CSM 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 court asked when the inquiry against Maryam had been initiated to which the NAB prosecutor responded that prior to her arrest, Maryam had been summoned but she had failed to appear before the bureau.
The investigative 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.
The accountability bureau 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, inside the court premises.
According to the NAB lawyer, Abbas's account was used for money laundering. He added that after money came into his account, it was transferred to the CSM.
The accountability court judge asked what had happened in the Panama Papers case to which the NAB lawyer responded that in the case, three references were to be submitted including one regarding CSM.