LHC accepts Maryam's plea seeking return of bail surety in Chaudhry Sugar Mills case

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday allowed an application filed by Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz seeking the return of Rs70 million deposited as surety for bail in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case. The case by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) pertains to alleged money laundering and income beyond means via “dubious” business transactions of the Chaudhry Sugar Mills, of which Maryam was a major shareholder. At the outset of the hearing, a NAB deputy prosecutor submitted an affidavit to an LHC full bench about the withdrawal of its plea before the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) challenging directives for the closure of the Chaudhry Sugar Mills investigation against Maryam. At this, Chief Justice Aalia Neelum, who headed the bench, accepted Maryam’s application with instructions to the registrar’s office to return the surety amount. Justice Muhammad Jawad Zafar and Justice Abher Gul Khan were the other members of the bench. The chief minister, through her counsel Javed Arshad, had filed the application after an accountability court in March allowed a NAB request for the closure of the investigation against her. The accountability court had declared that Maryam may withdraw her surety bond of Rs70 million furnished against the post-arrest bail granted to her in the case. The NAB had filed the case termination application following a February 4 directive from the LHC to place a termination report before the accountability court for the closure of the investigation as required under the law. A NAB team had arrested Maryam in connection with the case on Aug 8, 2019 when she was present at the Kot Lakhpat jail on her weekly visit to her incarcerated father, Nawaz Sharif. On Nov 4, 2019, the LHC released Maryam in the case on bail, subject to surrendering her passport to the court. She was also ordered to deposit a surety amount of Rs70m with the judicial registrar of the court. In October 2022, the LHC directed officials to return the passport to Ma