UK paper took three years to file defence in Shehbaz Sharif case

LONDON: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif won a massive defamation victory in London High Court against Associated Newspapers Ltd (publishers of the Daily Mail and the Main on Sunday) over an article published by reporter David Rose, but the court record shows that the newspaper took nine extensions to file a defence in support of its story, which was published on the basis that the paper and the reporter already had all the evidence.

When the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday published the article on July 19, 2019, it claimed it was publishing the article based on complete evidence of corruption, but later, the paper told the court it was looking for evidence and needed time to find and file the evidence to prove Shehbaz Sharif and his son-in-law Imran Ali Yousaf stole the money of British taxpayers from the Department for International Development (DFID) aid sent to Pakistan in 2006 to help victims of the devastating earthquake.

According to court documents, the Daily Mail delayed filing its defence for over a year, citing the security situation in Pakistan and its team’s inability to travel to Pakistan due to COVID restrictions. It was around the time when courts and officers were functioning through online means, and obtaining material from Pakistan through the Assets Recovery Unit (ARU) was not a problem as it was the ARU, headed by Shahzad Akbar, that was behind the original article in papers published by ANL.

Shehbaz Sharif had won an early victory in February 2021 when Justice Sir Matthew Nicklin ruled that David Rose’s article in the Mail on Sunday carried the highest level of defamatory meaning for both Shehbaz Sharif and Ali Imran Yousaf, his son-in-law.

Court papers show that it took the Daily Mail nearly three years to file a defence of David Rose’s article. The defence was filed in February 2022, and when the defence was served in February 2022, the Daily Mail made it clear it didn’t seek to defend the DFID allegations, for which the Daily Mail has now apologised and deleted the whole article. This was in marked contrast to the position the Daily Mail had taken since the article was published nearly three years ago, in July 2019.

Here is a full timeline of what happened in the case that dominated Pakistani politics for over four years.

The Daily Mail’s nine extensions:

Master Thornett gave an order on May 12, 2021, extending the time to file a defence by Daily Mail; the same Master gave an order on July 14, 2021, to extend the time for Daily Mail to file a defence; Master Thornett gave an order on Aug 02, 2021, extending the time to file defence; Master Gidden gave order on September 21, 2021, extending the time for Daily Mail to file defence; Master Gidden gave order on October 05, 2021, extending time to file defence; Master Gidden gave order on November 25, 2021, extending the time for Daily Mail to file defence; Master Thornett gave order on February 02, 2022, extending time to file defence; Master Thornett gave order on February 22, 2022, extending time to file a defence, and Master Thornett gave order on March 08, 2022, extending time to file a defence.

Article publication: The Daily Mail published “Did the family of a Pakistani politician who has become the poster boy for British overseas aid steal funds meant for earthquake victims, asks David Rose?” on July 13 and 14, 2019—when PTI was in power.

Sharif’s claim:

Shehbaz Shari issued a claim against Associated Newspapers Ltd. through Carter-Ruck on January 29, 2020, and held a press conference at the office of Carter-Ruck with his lawyers. Mr. Sharif has vowed to take the paper to court to obtain an apology and the withdrawal of all allegations. The acknowledgment of service was filed on February 17, 2020, at the court.

The court orders:

Mr. Justice Matthew Nicklin issued the first order on April 20, 2020, establishing a hearing window that runs from April 21, 2020, to July 31, 2020.

Mr. Justice Matthew Nicklin issued the second order on May 7, 2020, extending deadlines.

Mr. Justice Matthew Nicklin gave the first order on October 20, 2020, joining the claims of Shehbaz Sharif and his son-in-law, Imran Ali Yousaf.

Mr. Justice Matthew Nicklin gave an order on January 28, 2021, regarding the preliminary issue trial.

Mr. Justice Matthew Nicklin gave a judgment and order on February 5, 2021. The judge ruled at the meaning hearing at the London High Court on Friday in favour of PMLN President Shehbaz Sharif and his son-in-law, Ali Imran Yousaf. Justice Sir Matthew Nicklin ruled that the Mail on Sunday’s article carried the highest level of defamatory meaning for both Shehbaz Sharif and Ali Imran Yousaf.

Mr. Justice Matthew Nicklin gave an order on February 18, 2021, regarding various deadlines.

On March 15, 2022, the Daily Mail filed its defence.

On March 17, 2022, Master Thornett issued an order regarding the filing of defence; on June 23, 2022, he issued an order extending the deadline for filing a reply; and on September 20, 2022, he issued an order extending the deadline for filing a reply. After March 2022, the Daily Mail and Shehbaz Sharif entered into settlement negotiations, and it became clear to Shehbaz Sharif’s legal team that the Mail newspaper would apologise and remove the article on his terms.

On September 26, 2022, Mr. Justice Matthew Nicklin issued an order and scheduled a joint case management conference for November 9, 2022. It was three days before this hearing that Shehbaz Sharif made a tactical move and withdrew his stay application in favour of a full trial. According to the rules, the court was not informed that the Daily Mail’s lawyers had been in secret negotiations with Shehbaz Sharif’s lawyers for several months, offering to apologise. Shehbaz Sharif was advised by his legal team that there was no point in the further filing of documents as the paper had already offered and agreed to apologise and remove the defamatory and false article.

The Daily Mail’s apology and removal of the defamatory article:

In the second week of December 2022, Daily Mail publishers and Shehbaz Sharif’s lawyers signed a settlement agreement with Tomlin Order, after which Daily Mail removed the defamatory article and apologised to Shehbaz Sharif and his son-in-law Imran Ali Yousaf in the agreed contract. The ANL has promised it will never repeat these false allegations at any forum and has already worked with Google to remove all articles carrying the Daily Mail’s article.