Lahore: Maryam Nawaz, daughter of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and a scion of the family that dominated politics for three decades, was arrested and later remanded to custody on corruption charges filed by a national anti-graft agency. “I knew that it would be a tough situation for me to launch a political struggle but I will not budge,” Maryam told reporters shortly before she appeared in court in Lahore, to be denied bail and remanded until August 21. “The NAB has made a baseless case against me,” she added, referring to Pakistan's National Accountability Bureau.
PML-N chief Shahbaz Sharif condemned her arrest, saying it was a “political revenge” by the Imran Khan government. “Arresting Maryam in front of her father and kids is highly condemnable. On July 31, the 45-year-old Maryam was questioned by the anti-corruption agency in connection with the alleged money laundering and income beyond means charges against her and her family. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) arrested Maryam from the Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore where her father is serving a seven-year prison term since December 24, 2018 after he was convicted in one of the three corruption cases filed in the wake of the apex court’s July 28, 2017 order in Panama Papers case.
“We have arrested Maryam Nawaz in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills (CSM) case as she was facing money laundering and income beyond means charges,” a NAB official said. Maryam had been given a questionnaire based on six questions in the CSM case, which she was due to answer on Thursday last. However, the NAB officials reached the jail and detained her, the Dawn reported.
According to the NAB officials, Maryam had excused herself from appearing before the accountability bureau and had gone to meet Sharif in the jail. She is now being taken to the NAB headquarters.
