The Lahore High Court on Thursday issued notice to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and sought its reply on a petition filed by Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, seeking the refund of Rs70 million deposited as a guarantee in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case.
A three-member full bench, headed by Chief Justice Aalia Neelum, heard the petition. Justice Jawad Zafar and Justice Abhar Gul Khan were also part of the bench.
During the hearing, NAB’s counsel informed the court that the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case had already been closed by NAB, declaring it baseless. At this, the Chief Justice questioned whether the case had also been formally concluded by the relevant trial court.
Responding to the query, NAB’s lawyer stated that under the law, approval from the trial court was not required. However, CJ Neelum observed that although NAB had closed the case, final approval from the concerned trial court was still necessary.
The court directed NAB to submit a detailed reply by February 4.
Petitioner CM Maryam Nawaz filed her petition through her counsel, contending that the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case had been terminated and declared unfounded by NAB, and therefore, the Rs70 million deposited as a guarantee should be returned to her.
The case pertains to information received in January 2018 about a massive suspicious transaction involving billions of rupees at Chaudhry Sugar Mills under the Anti-Money Laundering Act.
At which NAB started inquiry and found in October 2018 that Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz, Shahbaz Sharif, and other family of the late Abbas Sharif were the shareholders in the company, along with some foreigners hailing from the UAE and UK.
Huge investments were made in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills from 2001 to 2017 of billions of rupees, in the name of foreigners by issuing shares in the millions to them. Later on, allegedly the same shares of the company were transferred back to Maryam Nawaz, Hussain Nawaz, and Nawaz Sharif at various times without paying any consideration, which led to the conclusion that the names of foreigners were used as proxies to make huge investments in the company, as the Sharif family did not have white money for investment.