Fact-check: NAB prosecutor was appointed during PTI’s term, not PM Shehbaz’s

A rival politician has accused Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of appointing the state prosecutor in a corruption case against his own granddaughter Maryam Nawaz Sharif. The claim is false.

Claim

On September 20, senior PTI leader and former Information Minister Fawad Hussain Chaudhry tweeted that during the hearing of the corruption case against politician Maryam Nawaz Sharif in the Islamabad High Court, the prosecutor assigned by the Prime Minister was confused. were victims of Which side they were presenting, NAB or the accused?

The prosecutor is Barrister Usman Rashid Cheema.

The tweet was retweeted over 10,000 times and liked over 26,000 times.

Reality

Barrister Usman Rashid Cheema was appointed as the prosecutor of the anti-corruption body in 2020 under Chaudhry’s own political party PTI.

Initially, the lawyer represented NAB in the money laundering case against Shahbaz Sharif and his family.

Then in July 2021, Cheema was appointed by the NAB as the lead counsel and head of the five-member prosecution team to fight the appeal filed against Maryam Sharif’s conviction in the Avenfield Apartments case. Geo fact check.

Cheema has been retained as counsel in the case. It has neither been de-notified nor redeployed since 2020.

Fawad Chaudhry’s claim that Shahbaz had delegated the responsibilities to Barrister Cheema.