Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif has sent a legal notice to British publication The Mail on Sunday, online news site Mail Online and journalist David Rose over an article published on July 14 about alleged embezzlement in the public funds.
Renowned law firm Carter-Ruck started formal legal action on behalf of Shehbaz Sharif against the British newspaper. Alasdair Pepper, Antonia Foster and Victoria Anderson will represent Shehbaz Sharif in his legal claim against the publication.
“The article is gravely defamatory of Mr Sharif, including false allegations that he misappropriated UK taxpayers’ money in the form of DFID aid intended for the victims of the devastating 2005 earthquake in Pakistan,” according to a press release issued by London-based legal firm Carter-Ruck. The statement further said that if there had been any evidence of the allegations levelled against Shehbaz Sharif, he would have been ‘arrested and charged’. “At no stage were the allegations properly put to me in advance of publication. Had they been, I would have pointed out – among other matters – that at the time of the earthquake in 2005, I was not even in Pakistan but living in exile in the UK,” the statement quoted Shehbaz Sharif as saying.
PML-N president says at the time of earthquake in 2005, he was living in exile in UK
“I am utterly appalled by these allegations. It is disgusting for the Mail to claim that I stole money from a fund for earthquake victims. This appears to be yet another politically motivated campaign against me and my family by the current government of Pakistan. According to the article, it granted the journalist ‘exclusive access to some of the results of a high-level probe ordered by Khan’ including a ‘confidential investigation report’ and highly unusually access to ‘interview key witnesses held on remand in jail’,” the statement read. “I value my professional and personal reputation very highly and will do all that is necessary to clear my name of these terrible allegations, and will pursue this claim through the courts of England and Wales, if that is what is required,” it added.
Hours after the report of legal notice emerged, David Rose took to Twitter, saying, “I’m only going to make one comment on Shahbaz Sharif’s recent statements: he [Shehbaz] complains the earthquake was in 2005 before he became CM. But according to evidence already aired in a Pakistani court, the alleged thefts from the quake relief fund were in 2009 and 2011. Refutation?”
David Rose hits back, says alleged thefts from quake relief fund were made in 2009 and 2011
The story published earlier this month claimed that Shehbaz Sharif, the former chief minister of Punjab, had embezzled funds provided by UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) for the rehabilitation of the 2005 earthquake. It quoted Assets Recovery Unit Chief Shahzad Akbar and a few other individuals – none of whom were in an official position.
The story was quickly refuted by the PML-N and the party had insisted that it was published ‘on the behest of [Prime Minister] Imran Khan’. It was also rejected by DFID, which said the body’s robust systems protect UK taxpayers from fraud.
The article, ‘Did the family of UK aid’s poster boy steal taxpayers’ cash meant for earthquake victims?’, also quoted Shehbaz’s son Suleman as denying the allegations against him and his family, saying they were the product of a ‘political witch-hunt’ ordered by Prime Minister Imran Khan.
