Broadcaster Reham Khan on Friday apologised to Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader Zulfi Bukhari after losing a defamation case brought by the latter against her in the United Kingdom.
In December 2019, Reham had accused Bukhari of becoming part of a “corrupt plan with the Prime Minister Imran Khan to sell or acquire the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) owned Roosevelt Hotel in New York at a lesser value for his benefit.”
Soon after the accusation, Bukhari had sued Reham in a court in London.
During a hearing in London earlier this year, the judge had found that Reham’s words had amounted to a Chase Level 1 imputation. As determined by the judge, this had meant that the defamatory words would be understood by an “ordinary reasonable reader” as actual guilt on the part of Bukhari.
However, on Friday, Reham, in a statement posted to Twitter, apologised for a number of claims she had made regarding the PTI leader.
“On Dec 7, 2019, I retweeted a tweet and video by Syed Tauqeer Bukhari in which it was asserted that Zulfi Bukhari was involved in fraud and nepotism by trying to sell a precious asset of the state of Pakistan, the Roosevelt Hotel, for a meagre amount of money,” she said.
These allegations were “false and untrue”, Reham said, adding that Bukhari was not involved in any corrupt plan, fraud, nepotism or attempt to sell the hotel.
“Zulfi Bukhari has built his wealth; such as it is, through hard work and not through any form of illegal conduct,” Reham wrote.
“I unconditionally apologise to Zulfi Bukhari for the significant distress, upset and embarrassment which these publications have caused him. I have agreed to pay Zulfi Bukhari substantial damages for libel and to pay his legal costs,” Reham said in her statement.
Zulfi Bukhari welcomed the development, saying that “truth always wins!”
“Upon court orders, Reham Khan publicly apologises and pays damages for her lies,” he tweeted.
Later in the day, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry tweeted, “Anyway Reham being a liar was proved once again. She is actually a habitual liar.”
