PML-N's Maryam Nawaz questions who gave NAB right to check witness statements

• PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz calls NAB's claims she is not cooperating in watchdog's investigation a "big lie". 
  
• She was holding a press conference before an LHC hearing on NAB's plea to cancel Maryam's bail in Chaudhry Sugar Mills case.
• Maryam says NAB is an institution of revenge.

LAHORE: PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz wants to know who gave the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) the authority to check the statements of witnesses.

NAB is a slave to order, she said while speaking on Monday at Jati Umra in Lahore before a Lahore High Court hearing on NAB's plea to cancel post-arrest bail granted to her in the Chauhdry Sugar Mills case.

Maryam said that it was said in the high court that "Maryam Nawaz is giving statements and her bail should be cancelled".

Read more: LHC to hear NAB's plea seeking cancellation of Maryam Nawaz’s bail

"NAB is an institution of revenge," Maryam said and called NAB's claims that she was not cooperating in the watchdog's investigation a "big lie".

She said she was detained for three months and asked trivial questions.

"People can see that the government's legs are shaking and your hands and feet are swollen, don't fool the people," she said.

"NAB is no longer an institution catching corruption, but an institution to harass [Prime Minister] Imran Khan's opponents because he cannot compete in the field" Maryam said.

If NAB had caught corruption, it would have caught the flour and sugar thieves, she said.

She called for the PTI government to stop hiding behind NAB and the high court.

Read more: 'Call me a traitor or hang me but we won't let Pakistan sink,' PML-N's Javed Latif says

The PML-N leader said that PM Khan is a puppet who was imposed on 220 million people and all of Pakistan saw the result. "He [PM Imran Khan] is the culprit of the people so the PML-N and PDM will not sit with the government," she said.

The LHC had released Maryam on November 4, 2019 on bail with direction to surrender her passport to the Registrar’s office of the court to show her bonafide since the NAB had feared she could flee the country.

On the government's response to COVID-19

In response to a question, Maryam said that coronavirus become prevalent when the government is in trouble.

"Coronavirus is there at Opposition meetings, but not at government meetings," she said, adding that Imran Khan is a bigger threat than coronavirus since the virus still has a vaccination.

Read more: Our senators are being called and asked not to vote for PDM, claims Maryam Nawaz

She said the only vaccination against Imran Khan is for the public to kick him out of office.

On the Senate election

The PML-N leader also spoke about the recently held election for the posts of Senate chairman and deputy chairman.

She said Pakistan Democratic Movement candidate Yousaf Raza Gillani's name was stamped on which it was said that seven votes are not valid.

Maryam expressed the hope that Gillani would emerge victorious when the matter is taken to court.