LAHORE: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has issued arrest warrants of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Chaudhry Sugar Mills case and is likely to present him before an accountability court today (Friday).

Sources said the NAB chairman had issued arrest warrants of Mr Sharif in the case and a team of Lahore bureau would visit him in the Kot Lakhpat jail on Friday to take him to the accountability court for his physical remand.

Mr Sharif is serving a seven-year imprisonment in Al-Azizia Mills corruption case. NAB has already arrested his daughter Maryam Nawaz and nephew Yousuf Abbas in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case. Both of them are on judicial remand till Oct 23.

NAB mainly accused Maryam of being involved in money laundering under the garb of sale/purchase of the sugar mills’ shares. It said she had become the largest shareholder of the mills in 2008, having over 12m shares and her assets had been found disproportionate to her income.

It said the mills was shifted from Gojra to Rahim Yar Khan in 2015 at a cost of Rs1.5bn and this amount had not so far been justified by the suspects.

On the other hand, Maryam’s counsel challenged the jurisdiction of NAB to investigate matters of companies. He said sale and purchase of shares was in accordance with laws of the Security & Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and the Companies Act 2017 and argued that power to investigate into any irregularity of a sugar mills vested with the SECP.

He said all financial affairs of the mills had already been thoroughly investigated by a JIT formed by the Supreme Court in Panama Papers case.

Any further inquiry into the same matter would amount to double jeopardy, he argued.

Published in Dawn, October 11th, 2019