Nawaz facing trial owing to his children's greed: Fawad Chaudhry

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Fawad Chaudhry on Tuesday claimed that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif is facing trial owing to his children’s greed to gather money.

Responding to Maryam Nawaz’s press conference earlier today, Chaudhry said, "She is not in court because of Nawaz but Nawaz is in court because of her.”

“Nawaz’s children kept Rs300 billion in foreign accounts and it is his children’s greed that has brought him to court,” he added.

“His [Nawaz] children crossed all limits of gathering money which is why the whole family is facing trials today,” the PTI leader continued.

Refuting Maryam’s statement that she has been ‘dragged’ into the Avenfield reference to pressurise her father to cower, Chaudhry said, “Maryam is being made to appear before court because she and her father embezzled money from the national exchequer.”

“Maryam is a habitual liar and has no difficulty in lying,” he asserted.

"First, she claimed that she has no properties in London or Pakistan and then later admitted that she owns property worth over Rs1.25 billion," he added.

The PTI leader further alleged that Maryam submitted 22 fake deeds in court.

“If the Supreme Court had applied the same laws that are applied on a common man then she would be facing a seven-year jail terms for submitting fake deeds,” he upheld.

Earlier today, Maryam said she has been 'dragged' into the corruption cases filed against her and her family to be taught a lesson and to force her father to cower.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader said her name was not mentioned in the April 2016 verdict but she was later implicated in the JIT investigation.

Maryam went on to say that she was "dragged into the case [Avenfield reference]" owing to "teach a lesson mindset".

"Despite not figuring anywhere in the Supreme Court judgment dated April 20, 2017, the reason I was dragged into the case finds its origin in ‘will teach a lesson’ mindset that has threatened, harassed and victimised those who refuse to accept the excesses, those who had the courage to stand up to injustice and those who have dared to question the rotten, entrenched practice of bringing elected prime ministers to their knees, on one pretext or the other, be it religion, corruption or even ‘ghaddari’," she said while reading out a part of her statement recorded before the accountability court.

Questioning why she has to appear again and again before a joint investigation team (JIT) "formed through WhatsApp calls", the former premier's daughter said, "I have appeared before the court more than 70 and the case is still going on."

"I know why I am being kept away from my mother who is suffering from cancer and I also know that in Pakistan's 70 year history no woman has ever appeared before the court these many times,' she continued.

"My only fault is that I am Nawaz Sharif's daughter. My only fault is that I like other brave women of this country and stand firmly with my father. My only fault is that I think my father is right," Maryam asserted.

She further continued that she was named in the case to pressurise her father. "They are aware of the sensitive relationship between a father and daughter."

"They [conspirators] named me in the case to make my father cower before them," the PML-N leader added.