ISLAMABAD/DUBAI: Dubai-based business tycoon Umar Farooq Zahoor has sued the Norwegian right-wing tabloid Verdens Gang (VG) and its reporter Rolf John Widerøe for publishing a defamatory and vindictive article on him, by deliberately lying and concealing facts to harm his reputation and services for Pakistan in the form of bringing millions of Dollars in direct foreign investment to Pakistan.
According to a copy of the defamation letter sent to the paper over the article published by the reporter Rolf John Widerøe, the business tycoon Zahoor’s lawyers have accused the paper of Islamophobia, racism and xenophobia for making several false allegations including that President Asif Ali Zardari, on behalf of the State of Pakistan, had approved the second highest civilian award Hilal-e-Imtiaz for Umar Farooq for his crucial role in the Toshakhana case involving former prime minister Imran Khan and the misappropriation of gifts from the state repository.
The letter states: “That name of our client Umar Farooq Zahoor has been approved for conferment of civil award Hilal-e-Imtiaz by the President of Pakistan in acknowledgment of his efforts and meritorious services in bringing hundreds of millions of dollars in country as direct foreign investment. Needless to mention here that the nomination of our client for said award is made after thorough deliberation, recommendations and approval by the President of Pakistan in accordance with provisions of law.”
Umar Farooq Zahoor’s lawyers have accused the right-wing tabloid of targeting the businessman “with malicious intent for the last fifteen years by publishing defamatory articles” and for “witch hunting” since long and” the main reason for orchestrating this false campaign is islamophobia, racism and your personal score against our client. That article in question is an ongoing onslaught by your tabloid against our client in order to tarnish his reputation, dignity, honor, business and social status on account of racism, settling personal score and for illegal/unlawful purposes”.
The legal letter says: “In your article, you have also mentioned the Medal of Honors awarded to our client by the President of Equatorial Guinea in Africa in recognition of his services for opening of the power plant in August 2023. At the same time you have leveled corruption allegations against the said President. This foiled attempt on your part to link conferment of two awards on our client amidst allegations of corruption and fraud reflects mala fide and deliberate effort to defame our client. Every time our client achieves a hallmark, your tabloid starts publishing defamatory material jealousy with the motive to help the State Attorney in making public statements in a false case against our client. It has also been noted that that same state Attorney Mr. Carl Graff Hartmann is always there to comment against our client whenever any defamatory material is published in your tabloid. It is clear beyond any doubt that your tabloid is raising false allegations against our client without any proof and the same is defamatory. It has also been observed that your tabloid always reports one side of things without taking the point of view of our client which reflects your ill-intent, mala fide and such practice is also against the norm of fair journalism and fair reporting.”
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 Mr. Zahoor. It has rejected allegations of fraud by Mr. Zahoor in the Nordea Bank Norway fraud case. It says the Norwegian born Zahoor moved to Dubai around 20 years ago in 2005. 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 Trial Judge was reported by your tabloid.”
The defamation lawsuit informs that the Norway 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 Mr. Zahoor to the Norwegian authorities as the Norway prosecution failed to provide any evidence regarding involvement of Zahoor in the alleged crime. The lawsuit says: “The INTERPOL reviewed the case of Umar Farooq Zahoor in its 110th Session held from 30th Sept 2019 to 4th Oct 2019 and ordered deletion of his Red Warrants after thoroughly probing into allegations in the light of evidence submitted by Norwegian authorities. The said decision of INTERPOL was accepted by the Norwegian authorities which is still intact.
“However, Umar Farooq Zahoor joined the investigation in good faith and eventually the investigation was closed for good. Same has been verified by the Norway Police vide its letter dated 20.05.2020. The Oslo Police Department also sent the proposal for closure of the aforesaid case vide Letter dated 20.12.2021 to the Public Prosecutor Office Oslo.”
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 Mr. 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. Zahoor’s lawyers inform the tabloid in the legal letter: “It is also noteworthy that the case was registered against our client without following due process of law and the approval was obtained from the PTI Govt Cabinet by concealing the facts and a First Information Report (FIR) No. 40/20 was registered on the same facts which had already been investigated multiple times in Norway and every time case was closed due to lack of evidence. Upon learning about the FIR, Mr. Zahoor joined the investigation and a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) was formed by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). The JIT after a thorough investigation recommended the cancellation of the FIR. In the light thereof, the Learned Court at Pakistan vide its Order dated 11.05.2023 was pleased to cancel the FIR and acquitted our client. These facts prove that allegations of fraud against our client are a bunch of lies and our client has been vindicated at last in two jurisdictions.”
It also reveals that the Norwegian tabloid in a vindictive move registered a criminal case against Mr. Zahoor on allegations of threatening the tabloid but the case has also been dismissed by the Oslo Police after thorough probe vide Notification dated 23.03.2023. “It is beyond imagination how our client can threaten your tabloid while not being in Norway,” the letter says.
The lawsuit says Rolf John 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 Mr. Rolf J. Widerøe firstly threatened Mr. Maqsood Ali of dire consequences and finally managed to flee from Pakistan. The Law Enforcement Agency managed to secure non-bailable arrest warrants of Mr. Rolf. J. Widerøe from the competent court of law. Subsequently, request for issuance of Red Warrants was made for Mr. 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.”
The lawsuit says that the Norway tabloid referred to Ghana’s gas turbine case and again failed to mention the true facts of the matter that the gas deal has already been audited by different independent authorities and the same has been declared as beneficial for the state of Ghana. It says: “In response to hue and cry made by your tabloid regarding alleged corruption in the gas turbine project, the Government of Ghana ordered an independent audit of the deal and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC ) was engaged for the said purpose. The PWC after a complete audit cleared the deal. Similarly, opinion was sought from the Attorney General’s office of Ghana regarding the said deal who also declared the deal to be the beneficial one. The concealment of these important facts makes it abundantly clear that your tabloid is only publishing limited information just in order to malign our client.”
The lawsuit asks the tabloid to “immediately withdraw your article published against our client and publish an official apology” for “defaming our client through misreporting and distorting facts”.
It adds: “In case of failure to do so, we have instructions from our client to initiate criminal as well as civil action against your tabloid and your reporter at all the appropriate forums.”
The lawsuit says: “Umar Farooq Zahoor has an impeccable reputation in different business and social circles for his business, social and philanthropy work. He enjoys respect in the diplomatic community as well as he earlier represented as Ambassador at large for the Republic of Liberia and now he has been appointed as Ambassador at Large for another NGO. Our client has been awarded different Honors for his work. He has provided energy solutions to different African countries and also closed transactions to the tune of almost five billion US dollars in the last one decade in different countries. He is also a known figure in the UAE and has the privilege of advising the Royal family in financial disciplines.”
Umar Farooq Zahoor is among 104 individuals, both Pakistani and foreign, who have been honoured with Pakistan’s esteemed civil awards in recognition of their distinguished services for Pakistan, mainly for helping the country through foreign investment.
