Senior British journalist Christina Lamb termed the media reports as “made up” on the social networking site Twitter. She denied the reports of being contacted by anyone in the financial wrongdoing case against Arsalan Iftikhar, the son of Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.
There have been reports that Malik Riaz, the influential real estate tycoon of Pakistan had contacted the Washington Bureau chief of Sunday Times to expose the scandal right when Chief Justice was scheduled to receive the International Jurists Award-2012. The reports also claimed that it was a planned move to malign the Chief Justice who is considered incorruptible.
However, earlier today Christina Lamb tweeted from her account:
“have no idea how this started but can i clarify i am not planning a big expose on Familygate, have spoken to no one abt it.”
In another tweet she clarified that all the media reports are “made up” and she hasn’t spoken to anyone about the issue.
“any purported quotes from me on CJ issue are made up, all i know is what i’ve read in the media and have spoken to no one!”
There have been rumors that the son of Chief Justice has received approximately Rs. 400 million (USD 4.25 million) from the Chairman of Bahria Town (in Pakistan), Malik Riaz, to influence the legal proceedings. However, Arsalan Iftikhar has submitted a five-page statement to the court, strongly rejecting any relationship with Malik Riaz.
“I have never met with any one of them (Malik Riaz, his daughter or son-in-law) in relation to any business deal or for any other purpose in Pakistan or outside Pakistan. Therefore, baseless, frivolous and unfounded allegations have been leveled to spread in electronic and print media in absence of any cogent and logical evidence acceptable under the law of evidence so the said allegations are strongly denied,” Iftikhar quoted in his statement.
However, Malik Riaz didn’t appear before the court on Saturday and his personal staff officer informed the court that he was undergoing a medical treatment in the United Kingdom.
