Maryam Nawaz gets her passport back after three years

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz received her passport on Monday after Lahore High Court (LHC) ordered that the passport be returned to her.

She had surrendered her passport three years ago in order to get bail in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills money laundering case.

“Alhamdulillah, my passport has been returned”, Maryam said in a tweet.

“Due to the fear of my jalsas (rallies), fitna kept me in NAB for three months and in death cell in Kot Lakhpat Jail for investigation, but the case has not been filed to date”, she added.

A three-member bench of the LHC, headed by Chief Justice (CJ) Muhammad Ameer Bhatti and comprising Justice Ali Baqar Najafi and Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh heard the case on Monday (today). During the proceedings, Maryam’s counsel Muhammad Amjad Pervaiz argued that his client had been granted bail after she surrendered her passport in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills money laundering case but that despite the passage of a span of four years, no reference had been filed against her.

Maryam, through her counsel, moved the fresh petition, arguing that in 2019, NAB had forced her to surrender her passport in this case, fearing that she would flee the country.

Pervaiz also informed the court that the conviction in the Avenfield case could have caused difficulty in the return of her passport, but that the case has been closed.

During the hearing, the federal government said that they have no objection to the plea. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor also said that his organisation has no objection to it. He added that they did not know whether the case came under their jurisdiction or not after the new amendments to NAB’s law.

Last month, Maryam approached the court to get her passport released. She stated that she was unable to exercise her fundamental rights for the last four years despite the absence of any charge sheet or trial, as she had surrendered her passport in accordance with the court’s order when she was arrested in 2019.

The case:

As per details of Chaudhry Sugar Mill’s money-laundering investigation, NAB in January 2018 received a Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU) report describing suspicious transactions of billions of rupees under the Anti-Money Laundering Act.

After receiving the FMU report, NAB started an inquiry in October 2018 and found that PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz, the incumbent PM Shehbaz Sharif, Abbas Sharif and family were shareholders in the company, along with foreigners from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the United Kingdom (UK).

A probe revealed that investments in Chaudhry Sugar Mills from 2001 to 2017 worth billions of rupees were made under the guise of issuing shares for foreigners.

Interestingly, later on, the same shares of the company were transferred back to Maryam, Hussain, and Nawaz Sharif on various occasions without any money paid to the said foreign business partners.