NAB moves court for Maryam’s solo appearance
Staff Reporter Lahore
As PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz obtained bail orders on Wednesday, the National Accountability Bureau also knocked on the doors of the Lahore High Court seeking orders directing her to visit the NAB office along with at most two people and not with other political workers and leaders.
NAB’s petitioner contended that the respondent, Maryam Nawaz, had not been cooperating with the anti-graft body since she was granted post-arrest bail in the Chaudhary Sugar Mills Case.
“NAB issued notices to Maryam in the Jatti Umra land case and later issued a call-up notice summoning her by March 26 but respondent Maryam is in no mood to cooperate with the anti-graft body on this investigation and publically ridiculing the NAB authorities,” the NAB in its petition added.
Earlier, the Lahore High Court approved on Wednesday protective bail for PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz ahead of a key hearing by the National Accountability Bureau of graft cases pending against her.
The LHC had taken up the PML-N leader’s appeal for an urgent hearing on the summons sent by NAB to her.
The case was heard by a two member bench, comprising Justice Sardar Sarfaraz Dogar and Justice Asjad Javed.
The bench approved the bail
of the PML-N leader against two bonds of Rs1 million each.
Maryam has been asked to appear before NAB on March 26 in relation to the Chaudhry Sugar Mills and Raiwind land cases.
Maryam’s counsel, Azam Nazeer Tarar, stated in the petition that NAB has a “tradition” of arresting people after inviting them to appear before it.
Maryam, in her petition, further claimed that NAB wants to arrest her due to “pressure” from the government.
She added that the watchdog was targeting political opponents over the government’s instructions.
“[Prime Minister] Imran Khan can arrest the petitioner on March 26 to save his government,” the court was told by Maryam’s counsel.
The petition noted that NAB has summoned Maryam over a case concerning 1,500 kanals of land, adding that she wants to be part of the investigation but fears arrest. She appealed to the court to approve pre-arrest bail for her in the case.
The court, after seeing the petition, agreed to an urgent hearing of the case and later granted the request.
Maryam, while speaking to the media after the court hearing, said that her party will not give NAB an opportunity to “save Prime Minister Imran Khan’s sinking ship”. The PML-N leader said that the PTI government is in “trouble” and called it a
“sinking ship”.
Speaking about the case, Maryam said it was “political” and based on “revenge”. She added that she exposed the ruling party by going through the revengeful tactics of the government.
“[Will not become] an easy prey for them this time. They have their own strategy, we have our own strategy,” said the PML-N leader. She added that she has decided to stop their revenge and face the government.
The PML-N leader also claimed that NAB was being run by everyone but the anti-corruption watchdog.
