Maryam Nawaz seeks bail in Chaudhry Sugar Mill money laundering case

On September 20, Maryam Nawaz, vice president of the PML-N (Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz), filed an appeal in a high court in Lahore, seeking bail in relation to the Chaudhry Sugar Mill case. According to reports, Maryam pleaded to the court to approve her bail request. 

'An illegal arrest'

According to reports, Nawaz stated that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), an autonomous federal institution, had illegally taken her into custody as all of the assets were declared and further added that she was a target of a politically motivated attack. 

The Nawaz Sharif-led party's vice president is presently lodged in a jail cell on 14-day judicial custody since September 25 along Yousaf Abbas who also happens to be her cousin. In addition to this, her party berated the Pakistani government for not providing proper facilities to the PML-N veteran - her father and former Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif. 

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In an interview to a local media outlet, Shahzad Akbar stated that Nawaz had used the Chaudhry Sugar Mills as a cover for money laundering and illegal transfer of its shares.

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'A facade for laundering money'

According to reports, during an investigation, it came to light that 15 million US dollars were taken as a loan to build the mills despite the fact that the sugar mills had already been constructed before the loan was sanctioned. 

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In addition to this, it was said that on the basis of the records of the State Bank of Pakistan, the 15 million dollar loan was never transferred to the Pakistani government's account. 

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Also, more than 7 million worth of shares were allegedly transferred to PML-N vice president Maryam Nawaz account in the year 2008 through the mill's shares, which were later transferred to her cousin, Yousaf Abbas Sharif in the year 2010.

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