Imran terms defamation notice issued by Omni Group baseless, illegal

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan Tuesday termed the defamation notice issued by the Omni Group as baseless, illegal, fake and absolutely wrong, and demanded the Omni Group to immediately withdraw its notice and tender an apology.

In his reply to the legal notice under the Defamation Ordinance, 2002 dated 21st November 2022, sent through Barrister Hassan Khan Niazi and Barrister Mian Waleed Ashraf, Imran Khan provided details of the plea bargain made by the Omni Group with NAB.

According to PTI Central Media Department here, in his reply, Imran Khan said that the notice was completely flawed in law, which did not meet the rules and regulations of the Defamation Ordinance 2002. The chairman PTI said that in July 2018, the JIT investigation report made on the orders of the Supreme Court revealed the close relationship between Omni Group and Zardari Group.

“A plea bargain was entered and approved by the accountability court in tune of Rs9 billion, which again is an admitted fact. The breakdown of the plea bargain in six cases showed that plea bargain for an amount of Rs2,129.789 million was approved by the respected accountability court in reference No2/2019 State Vs Hussain Lawai,” he noted.

Similarly, he said that plea bargain for an amount of Rs200 million was approved by an accountability court in reference No14/2019 State Vs Manzoor Qadir Kaka and plea bargain for an amount of Rs1,563.019 million was approved by an accountability court in reference No4/2019 State Vs Khawaja Anwer Majeed.

Plea bargain for an amount of Rs31.794 million was approved by an accountability court in transactions of Rs8.3 billion from a private developer through the joint accounts of some people into fake accounts and plea bargain for an amount of Rs170 million was approved by an accountability court in taking Rs1.22 billion kickbacks in JV Opal-225 by Zardari Group, it was stated.

Moreover, he said that plea bargain for an amount of Rs4,955.95 million was approved by an accountability court in a transaction made from the accounts of a private developer and joint accounts of others into fake accounts.

“In the light of these facts, the statement given by Imran Khan that a plea bargain was entered in tune of Rs9 billion stands true; hence, the notice under reply was unfounded, illegal, frivolous and incorrect,” it reads.

“Therefore, the notice sent by Omni Group is baseless, illegal, fake and completely wrong, thus Omni Group should withdraw its notice immediately and tender apology to chairman PTI,” it was stated in the reply.