Staff Reporter
KARACHI: Chief Editor of Norway’s extreme-right tabloid Verdens Gang (VG) and its reporter Rolf John Widerøe have been declared a proclaimed offenders (PO) by a court in Pakistan over their deliberate failure to appear before the court for publishing a false and defamatory story on Pakistan and Pakistani origin businessman Umar Farooq Zahoor.
Judge Abid Zubair, Additional District and Session court in Ferozwala, has declared Mr Rolf John Widerøe and the chief editor as proclaimed offenders through court declaration published in leading English dailies of Pakistan – over after the failure of Mr Rolf J. Widerøe and the VG Editor to earlier notices, sent and served in Norway at the address of the tabloid. Both of them refused to appear before the court and failed to provide any evidence to back up their libellous story after the court issued summons in November last year.
The published notice says: “Whereas service of the defendant is not going to be affected through ordinary means. So, service of defendants is affected by proclamation in the newspaper. You, defendants are directed to appear in the Court in person or through counsel failing which, ex-parte proceedings shall be initiated against you.”
The Dubai-based business tycoon Umar Farooq Zahoor sued Verdens Gang (VG) and its reporter Rolf J. Widerøe for publishing a defamatory and vindictive article against him, in which facts were allegedly concealed to harm his reputation and services for Pakistan in the form of bringing millions of dollars in direct foreign investment to Pakistan.
Zahoor’s lawyers have accused the right-wing tabloid of targeting the businessman “with malicious intent for the last 15 years by publishing defamatory articles” and for “witch hunting” since long and that the main reason for orchestrating this false campaign is “islamophobia, racism and your personal score against our client.”
Umar Farooq Zahoor’s lawyers have highlighted that the tabloid’s personalized campaign is biased and Islamophobic as it has deliberately hidden key facts while attacking Zahoor. It has rejected allegations of fraud by Zahoor in the Nordea Bank Norway fraud case.
The letter says: “A case was registered at Norway in the year 2010 wherein certain officials of Nordea Bank of Norway, in collusion with some private persons, fraudulently deprived one Randi Nelson of a colossal sum of money and transferred the said amount to the banks in UAE and Norway. It is worth mentioning here that our client has never been to Norway since 2005 whereas the alleged occurrence took place in the year 2010. The Law Enforcement Agencies of Norway initially initiated the investigation in the year 2011. The persons involved in the crime were prosecuted in Norway and some were punished and some of them were acquitted.”
“That our client was also made part of investigation for merely having connection with the persons at UAE allegedly involved in the said fraud and due to passing by remarks of the judge who conducted the trial of Nordea Bank fraud. The aforesaid remarks were passed without any proof of involvement of our client in the fraud. It was for this reason that the decision and remarks of the judge were turned over by the Appellate Court. The investigation initiated against our client was closed in the year 2013 due to lack of evidence. It is astonishing that neither the news of closure of investigation nor the turning over of the remarks of the trial judge was reported by your tabloid.”
The defamation lawsuit informs that the Norwegian authorities reopened the investigation in 2015 and obtained a Red Warrant of our client from INTERPOL but the Law Enforcement Agency at the UAE refused to hand over custody of Zahoor to the Norwegian authorities as the Norway prosecution failed to provide any evidence regarding involvement of Zahoor in the alleged crime.
The lawsuit to Verdens Gang (VG) tabloid says it deliberately didn’t tell its readers that the Presiding Judicial Officer, namely Arild Nesdal, who gave passing remarks against Umar Farooq Zahoor, relied upon by the tabloid, while awarding sentence to one of the accused in the alleged fraud has himself been convicted in child pornography offences. The charge against Arild Nesdal was of downloading and possessing objectionable images and videos relating to sexual abuse of children – leading to his conviction.
The lawsuit says that the reporter Rolf. J. Wideroe is aware of the grave nature of the crime as the former judge was himself adjudicating the matters pertaining to child abuse and he himself committed such offence while sitting in his chambers at Oslo District Court but the tabloid intentionally concealed this important fact while covering story of Nordea Bank case.
The lawsuit says that Shehzad Akbar, ex-Advisor to then prime minister Imran Khan on Accountability, in connivance with Zahoor’s ex-wife Khushbakht Mirza, again opened the same case in Pakistan.
It also reveals that the Norwegian tabloid in a vindictive move registered a criminal case against Zahoor on allegations of threatening the tabloid but the case has also been dismissed by the Oslo Police after thorough probe vide Notification dated March 23, 2023. “It is beyond imagination how our client can threaten your tabloid while not being in Norway,” the letter says.
The lawsuit says Rolf J. Widerøe has been a proclaimed offender in Pakistan since 2015.
“A criminal case bearing No. 222/2015 was registered against him for depriving a Pakistani citizen Maqsood Ali of ten million rupees by making a false promise of getting him a Norwegian passport during his visit to Nawabshah, Pakistan. it says: After receiving hefty payment Rolf J. Widerøe firstly threatened Maqsood Ali of dire consequences and finally managed to flee from Pakistan. The law enforcement agency managed to secure non-bailable arrest warrants of Rolf. J. Widerøe from the competent court of law. Subsequently, request for issuance of Red Warrants was made for Rolf. J. Widerøe. He is still absconding from the process of law and wanted by the law enforcement agencies of Pakistan. Your tabloid is continuously publishing stories of a proclaimed offender who intentionally distorts and conceals facts for his own personal gains.”
