NAB grants 14-day physical remand of Nawaz Sharif in Chaudhry Sugar Mills case

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Friday obtained 14day physical remand of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in connection with the Chaudhry Sugar Mills (CSM) case. The court ordered the accountability bureau to present Nawaz on October 25. Sharif had been arrested earlier in the day by NAB from Kot Lakhpat jail and presented before an accountability court in Lahore.

Members of the Sharif family are accused of being involved in money laundering under the garb of sale/purchase of Chaudhry Sugar Mills Ltd shares. NAB has accused Nawaz of being a direct beneficiary of CSM and his daughter, Maryam - who was arrested in connection with the case in August along with her cousin Yousuf Abbas - of holding over 12 million shares in the sugar mills.

A source had earlier revealed that in January 2018, the then PML-N government's financial monitoring unit had reported to NAB a large suspicious transaction involving billions of rupees in Chaudhry Sugar Mills.

The CSM reference is the latest in a series of court cases involving the former prime minister. The saga began with his ouster from office in 2017 through the Panama Papers verdict to his convictions in two subsequent corruption references involving the Al Azizia Steel Mills and the Avenfield Apartments.

A NAB team, after taking the former premier into custody from Kot Lakhpat jail - where he has been serving a seven-year sentence after being found guilty in the Al Azizia reference - brought him to an accountability court in Lahore to secure a 15-day physical remand. Judge Chaudhry Ameer Muhammad Khan questioned where Nawaz was, after which he appeared on the rostrum.

During proceedings, which were disrupted by party workers attempting to take pictures with the former premier, NAB prosecutor Hafiz Asadullah Awan alleged that in 2016, Nawaz had been the largest shareholder in CSM and had retained his shareholding in Chaudhry Sugar Mills as well as in Shamim Sugar Mills.

The NAB prosecutor had further alleged that Maryam, PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif and other Sharif family members had also been shareholders in CSM.

He had stated that CSM's bank accounts had received foreign funds, adding that in 1992 one foreign company alone had provided Nawaz with Rs55.5 million. Awan said that they still do not know who the owner of this foreign company is.

After the NAB prosecutor concluded his statements, Nawaz's counsel, Advocate Amjad Pervez, denied that his client had ever been a shareholder or director in CSM.

"This is not the first time that Nawaz Sharif's assets are under scrutiny," he said, adding that opposing governments had previously also investigated the formation of the companies, but nothing was found.

He further said Nawaz had no role in the formation of CSM.