LONDON/ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif issued a massive apology to the publishers of the Mail newspaper over an article by journalist David Rose that accused Shehbaz and his son-in-law Imran Ali Yousuf of theft and dropped all allegations of corruption. Took it back. British taxpayers’ money.
It can be exclusively revealed that the publishers of the Daily Mail have deleted the article – “Did family of Pakistani politician who became poster boy for British overseas aid ask David Rose if earthquake Funds for victims were stolen” Pakistan when it was published on 14 July 2019.
David Rose had specifically visited Pakistan during the PTI regime prior to publication.
The Daily Mail on Thursday removed its article within minutes of telling the court that it had decided not to go to trial and to settle the case with Shahbaz Sharif and Imran Ali Yousaf.
Not only that, the Daily Mail has promised to work with Google to remove every link containing corruption allegations against Shehbaz Sharif based on the sensational but false Daily Mail article. This correspondent has learned from reliable sources within the Mail that he has been advised on several occasions by his own lawyers that he has no chance of winning the defamation case against Shahbaz Sharif at trial, because of corruption. The allegations were baseless, baseless, politically motivated. Pakistan and the press will never be able to produce any evidence to support their exaggerated claims of corruption and wrongdoing.
According to Associated Newspapers, the agreement between Shehbaz Sharif and Imran Ali Yusuf was submitted before Justice Matthew Nicklan in the Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court of Justice of the United Kingdom, in which the court was informed that after all the parties had agreed to has decided to withdraw its claims that Associated Newspapers will apologize. Mr. Sharif and his son-in-law.
The court was told in the agreement that the defamation dispute was brought to the court by Shehbaz Sharif after Mail on Sunday and Mail Online accused Shehbaz Sharif of corruption on July 14, 2019.
The agreement refers to a preliminary meaning trial at the UK High Court on February 5, 2021, which was clearly won by Shahbaz Sharif when Justice Nicklan found that the words used in the Mail article were defamatory of Shahbaz Sharif and him. was the highest level of respect. son-in-law and that the newspaper bring evidence to prove each allegation.
Justice Nicklin found that the article alleged that “Mr Sharif was a party to and principal beneficiary of the money laundering of tens of millions of pounds which represented the proceeds of his embezzlement, while he was the Chief Minister of Punjab. There were, substantial amounts of public money, including an undue amount of British public money paid to the province in DFID grant aid and other receipts in the form of kickbacks or commissions from government-run projects. Corrupt payments.”
The Daily Mail’s retraction of the article, the removal of the allegations and the apology to Shahbaz Sharif amounted to an admission of withdrawal, according to Justice Matthew Nicklin’s findings, as the judge found the general meaning of the Chase Level-1 category of defamation. During a trial to the same effect in the High Court, the Mail’s lawyers had told the judge that the paper had not accused Shehbaz Sharif of corruption and had also admitted that it had no evidence of corruption, but Justice Nicklan had told the Mail The lawyers were asked to be ready. for evidence and also said that the proceedings in the UK court will not affect any outcome of Shahbaz Sharif’s cases in Pakistan.
As per the terms of the agreement with ANL, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has filed a consent decree in the court, staying the claim against ANL and has told the court that he will seek the desired results of amnesty, removal of articles. Later do not want to pursue the case further. and confirmation.
JEE News have access to the full court bundle (over 700 pages) which shows that Shehbaz Sharif has apologized for every corruption charge leveled in David Rose’s article and as a result his The article has been removed from the website. No longer available for public access. The agreement states, “ANL will permanently remove the article from MailOnline within 3 days of the effective date”. The newspaper has accepted that it will also publish an explanation and retraction when Sharif’s NAB cases are decided in Pakistan.
Regarding the apology for the DFID funds allegations, the newspaper has told the court that it will retract all allegations in the clarification and corrections column of the Sunday edition of the Mail, either immediately after the effective date or the following day. In the edition on Sunday. (subject to reasonable editorial discretion); and “within 48 hours of the removal of the article (and shall remain in the archive thereafter) for a period of 24 hours accessible via a link in the clarification and corrections column of Mail Online or the effective date (whichever is later (i) subject to reasonable editorial discretion.” The court is told that each party shall bear its own costs incurred in connection with the dispute and claim. The Daily Mail has published the following apology and explanation on its website after removing David Rose’s article.
In an article about Mr Shahbaz Sharif, ‘Did the family of the Pakistani politician who became the poster boy for British overseas aid steal funds for earthquake victims’ published on 14 July 2019. In an article we reported on the National Accountability Bureau of Pakistan’s investigation into Mr. Sharif suggested that the money under investigation included an extraordinary amount of British public money paid to Punjab province in DFID grant aid. We accept that Mr Sharif has never been accused by the National Accountability Bureau of any wrongdoing in relation to British public money or DFID grant aid. We are happy to clarify this and apologize to Mr. Sharif for this error. A week after the news broke, Shahbaz Sharif announced that he would take legal action against The Mail for publishing a “fabricated and misleading story”.
He accused the newspaper of publishing the story “at the behest of [Prime Minister] Imran Khan and [Prime Minister’s Assistant] Shahzad Akbar” and said he would initiate legal action against the latter as well.
The article, written by David Rose and citing investigators Shehzad Akbar, Transparency International and a “confidential investigative report”, claims that between the 2005 earthquake and 2012, the PML-N president ” The “stolen” money also came from the UK. Projects funded by the Department for International Development (DFID).
“For years he has been hailed as the poster boy for the Third World by the UK Department for International Development, having received more than £500m of UK taxpayers’ aid for his province,” the report said. I put in.”
“Last year, Joanna Rowley, head of DFID’s Pakistan office, praised his ‘dedication’.”
DFID said in its rebuttal that The Mail on Sunday provided little concrete evidence to support its headline: ‘Did the family of Britain’s aid poster boy steal taxpayers’ cash for earthquake victims?’
“The UK taxpayer got exactly what it paid for and helped victims of the devastating earthquake. We are confident that our robust systems have protected UK taxpayers from fraud,” DFID asked in the headline. He said referring to the answer to the question.
Talking about where and how the laundered funds were stolen, the article claimed that a case had already come up in court – “a guilty plea by Ikram Naveed, the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority ( IRA), which received £54 million between then and 2012 for DFID, for immediate relief and long-term schemes to rebuild the lives of victims”. According to the author, The Mail was given “exclusive access” to some of the findings of the high-level investigation at the behest of Prime Minister Imran Khan.
The newspaper alleged that legal documents allege that Shahbaz’s son-in-law received nearly £1 million from a fund set up to rebuild the lives of earthquake victims. The stolen millions were laundered in Birmingham and then allegedly transferred to Shahbaz family accounts through UK branches of banks including Barclays and HSBC. Britain’s National Crime Agency is working closely with Pakistani investigators and is discussing the possible extradition of family members of Home Secretary Sajid Javed Shahbaz, who have taken refuge in London.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has welcomed the success of the UK High Court defamation case and dedicated it to the people of Pakistan who were “defamed and beaten up” internationally by false allegations in the Mail on Sunday and the Daily Mail. “. Reacting to the development, the Prime Minister said, “This is not an apology for me, it is an apology for the people of Pakistan who were defamed by the Daily Mail article published by David Rose.”
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif alleged that Imran Khan and his accountability adviser Shahzad Akbar used a British newspaper to harm Pakistan internationally and spread propaganda that Pakistan had misused aid funds and used. It was a false allegation made to hurt Pakistan’s interests at the international level. There was no truth in these allegations and now it has been proven.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Shahzad Akbar had assured David Rose that he would arrange witnesses and evidence for him from Pakistan but then arranged fake stories and false witnesses for his cooked-up corruption stories. “When it came to the actual test, none of that added up and the Daily Mail decided to apologize to me.”
In a series of tweets, Shahbaz Sharif thanked Allah. He said that I humbly bow my head before Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala. For 3 years Imran and his associates went to any extent to kill my character. In his smear campaign, he did not care that his actions brought the country into disrepute and damaged its relations with friendly countries.
“They mocked and ridiculed me and my family with their baseless allegations but I had unwavering faith in Allah, as only He can expose their lies. Misinformation and fake news have a limited shelf life. And truth is the ultimate victory, as the Daily Mail story after the NCA has proved.
Federal Information Minister Maryam Aurangzeb said on Thursday that Daily Mail’s apology to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is a slap on the face of the opponents.
Allah Ta’ala has made Shahbaz Sharif proud because no corruption has been proved against him. The Daily Mail’s apology has not only earned the respect of Shahbaz Sharif but also the people of Pakistan,” Maryam said in a statement.
The minister said that the Daily Mail could not present evidence in court to defend its allegations. He said that the entire case against Shehbaz Sharif went through trial after which Daily Mail apologized to Shehbaz Sharif unconditionally.
He said that Imran Khan and Shahzad Akbar should apologize not to the Daily Mail.
Imran Khan and Shahzad Akbar, he pointed out, leveled baseless and false allegations against the Sharif family: Imran Khan created political instability after coming to power in 2018 and handed over the NAB reference to the Daily Mail.
He took the stand that Imran conspired against Shehbaz Sharif by calling David Rose and made him sit next to him on talk shows. He (Imran) used to say that Shahbaz Sharif pocketed the money of the earthquake victims. He alleged that this person developed Punjab with his blood and sweat for 10 years. Imran Khan and Shahzad Akbar made baseless accusations against people and humiliated them.
