Videogate: Man named in Judge Arshad Malik's affidavit arrested by FIA

FIA presents Tariq Mehmood before court, two-day physical remand given

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Wednesday arrested Tariq Mehmood, an individual involved in the Videogate scandal involving accountability Judge Arshad Malik.

Mehmood was named in the affidavit submitted by Judge Malik in the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

The investigation agency presented Mehmood before the court and he was remanded in physical custody for two days. The FIA had asked for a 10-day physical remand.

Mehmood will be presented in court on July 19 after a medical checkup.  He was brought to the civil court in an armoured personal carrier (APC) with heavy security protocol.

Judge Arshad Malik in an affidavit submitted to the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had claimed he was offered Rs500 million by the son of ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif to resign on the pretext that he could “no longer deal with the guilt of having convicted the former premier under duress and without evidence”.

“Mian Tariq, an old social acquaintance from the time I was serving in Multan as additional district and sessions judge from 2000-2003, showed me a secretly recorded and manipulated immoral video in a compromising position saying that is it you doing this when you were serving in Multan,” the judge wrote in the affidavit.

The judge further claimed that he was blackmailed after being shown the video” and told to record an audio message that he delivered the verdicts to appease the “ruling elite” under an immense pressure and that substantial evidence was not available against the former prime minister.