Farah serves notice to Sana demanding apology for 'false allegations'

Defamation notice of Rs5 billion threatens legal action

ISLAMABAD:

Farhat Shahzadi alias Farah Gogi on Wednesday sent a notice of Rs5 billion to Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah on defamation charges.

According to an anti-corruption unit, Rana Yousuf, the former chief executive officer of Faisalabad Industrial Estate Development and Management Company (FIEDMC) and Maqsood Ahmed, the secretary of Special Economic Zone Committee, were accused of allotting 10 acres of land in the Faisalabad Special Economic Zone to Farah Gogi.

According to officials, the accused had illegally allotted a plot worth Rs600 million to Farah Gogi and her mother's company Al-Mu'az Dairy for only Rs83 million.

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Farah Gogi's husband Ahsan Jamil Gujjar had given a fake guarantee of Rs2 billion to get an industrial plot. The anti-corruption unit was also investigating Farah Gogi's and her husband's assets.

A three-member joint investigation team had registered a case against the accused and launched an investigation.

In May there had been reports that Farah – a close friend of former premier Imran Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi – and her husband had decided to challenge the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) authority to probe the allegations against them and completed consultations with their legal team.

The legal notice sent by senior lawyer Azhar Siddique today stated that Rana Sanaullah had made false allegations that affected the clients' good name.

It also stated that statements based on false allegations were spread over social media and television channels.

Demanding an apology to be submitted within seven days, the notice also stated that legal action through courts would be persued should the statements not be regretted.