Nawaz received millions from sugar mill: NAB

Graft-buster prepares preliminary report against former PM

LAHORE: The country’s top anti-graft body has prepared a preliminary investigation report against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills corruption case.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Lahore will submit the report to an accountability court next week.

In its report, the graft-buster has maintained that the former premier’s reluctance to cooperate and his travel abroad for medical treatment had hindered the investigation process.

According to NAB, the report contains evidence that Nawaz had directly received millions of rupees from the Chaudhry Sugar Mills between June 26, 2010 and June 3, 2013.

He received Rs5.667 million five times, Rs0.56 million nine times, Rs0.8 million 22 times and Rs0.82 million 20 times from the mill.
The anti-corruption body has also claimed that the Sharif family patriarch owned over 10 million of the mill’s shares.

He owned 1.2 million shares in 2008 and over 12 million shares in 2016.

Nawaz’s daughter Maryam and nephew Yousaf Abbass were also arrested and interrogated by NAB in connection with the case.
Nawaz was taken into custody in connection with the case in October last year from Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat prison– where he is already incarcerated and serving time in the Avenfield case.

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Nawaz reportedly fell seriously ill during NAB custody and gradually taken abroad for treatment. Maryam has also been granted bail in the case.

However, NAB Lahore has recently contacted the authorities concerned to place her name on the no-fly list in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case.

According to the NAB report presented before the court at the time of his arrest, Nawaz had held the majority shares of the mill at different times.

He, in connivance with co-accused Maryam, Hussain Nawaz, Yousaf Abbas Sharif and Abdul Aziz Abbas Sharif, established and invested Rs2 billion in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills and Shamim Sugar Mills between 1992 and 2016.

Maryam, Hussain, Hassan, Kulsoom Nawaz and Asma Nawaz owned  shares worth Rs43 million at the time of the mill was established in 1992. However, according to NAB, Nawaz did not have the source of income for the acquisition of the shares.

While Nawaz was the prime minister, an amount of $15,520,000 was shown as a loan to the mill by Ws Chadron (Jersey) Limited, St. Hellier, Jersey, Channel Island -- an offshore company -- in the year 1992.

The names of the real owners of the company have not been disclosed. NAB has accused Nawaz of acquiring 11.527 million shares of the mill worth Rs400 million in the year 2008 with the assistance of his daughter Maryam whereas the total declared income of both the of them was Rs47 million.

According to the NAB report, Nawaz, in connivance with Yousaf Abbas Sharif, Maryam and others, laundered an amount of Rs410 million by showing fictitious transfer of 11 million shares of the mill in the name of a foreigner named Nasser Abdullah Hussain Lootah.

The shares were ultimately transferred back to Nawaz in 2014 while he was the premier, the report added.

Then in connivance with Maryam, Yousaf and others, he acquired the Shamim Sugar Mills for Rs1.2 billion without having any known sources of funds for the purchase.