Ishaq Dar wins defamation suit in the British High Court

Ishaq Dar

Ishaq Dar wins defamation suit in the British High Court

LONDON Oct 19,2021

Former finance minister Ishaq Dar has won a defamation case against New Vision Television (NVTV) at the London High Court over allegations of corruption, money laundering and misuse of authority.

The TV channel NVTV withdrew all its allegations, NVTV has accepted that its allegations against Dar were false, fabricated and baseless. The TV channel has agreed to pay damages and legal costs to Mr Ishaq Dar for the hurt, embarrassment and defamation it had caused him.

On TV, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister for Accountability and Interior Shehzad Akbar and reporters of the programme Chaudhry Ghulam Hussain and Sabir Shakir accused Ishaq Dar of corruption, money laundering and abuse of power.

The allegations leveled by these individuals said that Ishaq Dar was involved in corruption and money laundering and had looted billions of rupees from Pakistan, which had been kept in a foreign secret account.

They further alleged in TV programme that Mr Dar gained control of the Financial Monitoring Unit and threatened to kill a government official to cover up his corruption. Apologizing in the High Court, NVTV admitted that the allegations against Ishaq Dar were false, fabricated and baseless.

NVTV aired a picture of Ishaq Dar on its channel in the UK on Monday evening, in which it was said that in the program aired on July 8, 2019, the reporters Chaudhry Ghulam Hussain and Sabir Shakir claimed that Ishaq Dar is ready to return the stolen money to Pakistan if he is allowed to return to Pakistan. It was also claimed that his bank account has been traced, where in around one billion dollar stolen money has been deposited. It was also said that Ishaq Dar had threatened to kill a person in order to encourage him to leave the country. “Mr Ishaq Dar has informed us and we are ready to accept that he has not stolen any money from the government of Pakistan.

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The secondly, no bank account of Mr. Ishaq was found, so there is no question of the stolen money coming to light. The thirdly, this claim was also false and fabricated that Mr. Dar is ready to return the money for his return to Pakistan. Fourthly, Mr. Darr has not threatened to kill anyone.

NVTV has apologized for the allegations leveled by Shehzad Akbar and said that a power play program was aired on New Vision Television on August 8, 2019, during which Shehzad, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister for Accountability and Interior, was present. Akbar claimed that Ishaq Dar was in charge of the Financial Monitoring Unit in Pakistan at that time.

He (Mr Dar), improperly obstructed the work of the unit, preventing access to the systems of key institutions that could assist in its work. He also claimed that Ishaq Dar took these steps to save the people who were involved in the money laundering case of Chaudhry Sugar Mills.

“Mr Ishaq has informed us and we are ready to admit that he has never seen the work of the Financial Monitoring Unit. The unit was set up under the Anti-Money Laundering Act 2010 and it operates directly under the State Bank of Pakistan. Due to which Ishaq Dar never interfered in the work of the unit nor did he do anything to protect anyone in any case including the alleged Chaudhry Sugar Mills case.

At the end of the apology, it was said that we unconditionally apologize to Ishaq Dar for the inconvenience, embarrassment and distress caused to him by our broadcasts and in addition to damages, legal expenses will also be paid.

When the case began in the London High Court, Mr Dar claimed that the charges against him were “extremely serious and defamatory” and that he had been convicted. He also claimed that it severely damaged his reputation and caused him embarrassment, pain and distress.