Maryam’s passport not required, NAB tells LHC

LAHORE: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) informed a full bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday it did not need the passport of PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz which she had surrendered to the court for bail in a sugar mills case.

LHC Chief Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti headed the bench. On September 14, the LHC issued notices to the federal government and the NAB on a petition filed by the PML-N leader, seeking recovery of her passport.

The PML-N leader had surrendered her passport after she had been granted post-arrest bail in Chaudhary Sugar Mills Limited case in November, 2019. During the course of the proceedings, the NAB told the court that it did not need Maryam’s passport, adding its position on her application was about the enforcement of fundamental rights.

“The Supreme Court has said no one can be deprived of constitutional rights even if a criminal case is registered,” the NAB said in its reply.

Later, the court adjourned the hearing till October 3.

The PML-N leader, through her counsel Amjad Parvez, had moved the petition, arguing that in 2019 the NAB had forced her to surrender her passport in the sugar mills case, fearing that she would flee the country.

The counsel argued her client was granted bail after she surrendered her passport, adding despite the passage of four years, no reference had been filed in the case. The counsel said the retention of the passport for an indefinite period was tantamount to a violation of fundamental rights. He said his client was arrested in an inquiry initiated by the NAB on August 8, 2019, when she was visiting her father at the Central Jail Lahore.