Avenfield reference: Court summons Maryam over fake document

ISLAMABAD/LAHORE: An accountability court on Tuesday summoned PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz on July 19 for submitting a fake trust deed in the Avenfield property reference.

Judge Muhammad Bashir issued the summon notice to Maryam on a plea of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) seeking her trial for allegedly submitting a fake trust deed in the London flats case.

In its plea, the NAB said a separate trial of Maryam had to be conducted for submitting a fake trust deed during the trial of the reference. It may be mentioned here that on July 6, 2018, the accountability court sentenced former prime minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif to 10-year imprisonment after finding him guilty in the Avenfield properties case. In the same reference, Maryam was sentenced to seven-year imprisonment, while her husband Captain (retd) Muhammad Safdar was given one-year jail.

Nawaz, Maryam and Safdar were released in September last year when the Islamabad High Court suspended their sentences.

In October 2018, the NAB filed a plea with the Supreme Court against the IHC decision stating that the IHC had not correctly examined the evidence in the case and hence its decision was liable to be declared null and void. The apex court turned down the plea. Meanwhile, PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz on Tuesday threatened the government with a harsh response and further exposing it for what she called victimising its political opponents.

She was responding to the latest notice served on her by the accountability court. In a series of tweets, she asked the party workers and her followers on the social media to advise her whether she should boycott the proceedings or appear before the NAB court to expose what she called baseless cases against the Sharif family and the PTI government’s victimisation of her party. “Summon me at your own risk. You will neither be able to hear my arguments nor stand them. Lest you should repent summoning me afterwards,” she warned in a tweet.

Maryam lamented that after she exposed all conspiracies of the PTI government in her press conference, the government lodged a new case against her. “I ask people that instead of getting replies to my queries, whether I should appear before the NAB, which was hostage to audio/video,” she said in the tweet.

The PML-N leader feared that the government would further victimise her after her press conference, exposing the blackmail of judge, who convicted Nawaz Sharif. “Didn’t I predict that? Wasn’t I expecting that? Didn’t I know what was coming? Didn’t I know the lowest this infamous gang can stoop to? Yes I did. Make no mistake,” one of her tweet said.

She also drew attention towards the international embarrassment the government faced after its media handlers spread a fake invitation of Russian government to Prime Minister Imran Khan.

“Not only national, but also international embarrassment. The take home point is … never get ‘Selected’. No one will respect you,” she said in one of her tweets. The Russian media denied the Pakistani media reports that Prime Minister Imran Khan had been invited to the Eastern Economic Forum.