British newspaper Daily Mail on Thursday apologised to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif over a 2019 story accusing the Sharifs of misappropriating United Kingdom aid money.
In a note published under Clarifications and Corrections, the daily accepted that “Mr Sharif has never been accused by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) of any wrongdoing in relation to British public money or DFID grant aid.” The paper, the daily said, was “pleased to make this clear and apologise to Mr Sharif for this error.”
“In an article concerning Mr Shahbaz Sharif entitled ‘Did the family of Pakistani politician who has become the poster boy for British overseas aid STEAL funds meant for earthquake victims’ published on 14 July 2019 we reported on an investigation by Pakistan’s National Accountability Bureau into Mr Sharif and suggested that the money under investigation included a not insubstantial sum of British public money that had been paid to the Punjab province in DFID grant aid. We accept 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 pleased to make this clear and apologise to Mr Sharif for this error,” the note read.
The paper had published a story insinuating that the Sharifs were involved in misappropriating UK aid money meant for earthquake victims in July, 2019.
The prime minister had served a legal notice on Daily Mail and journalist David Rose in 2019. Citing the story, the notice claimed the article was “gravely defamatory”. “The article is gravely defamatory of Shehbaz, including false allegations that he misappropriated UK taxpayers’ money in the form of Department for International Development (DFID) aid intended for the victims of the devastating 2005 earthquake in Pakistan. Shehbaz denies these allegations,” according to The Express Tribune.
“This appears to be yet another politically motivated campaign against me and my family by the current government of Pakistan, which, according to the article, granted the journalist ‘exclusive access to some of the results of a high-level probe ordered by [Pakistani Prime Minister] Imran Khan’ including a ‘confidential investigation report’ and highly unusual access to ‘interview key witnesses held on remand in jail’,” the paper quoted Sharif as having said in the notice.
