A court in Pakistan has ruled that chief Editor of Norway’s extreme-right tabloid Verdens Gang (VG) and its reporter Rolf John Widerøe deliberately defamed noted Dubai-based Pakistani origin businessman Umar Farooq Zahoor and ran a long defamation campaign against him in order to harm him. The court has also ordered the duo to pay 30 million Rupees in damages as well as the legal fees to Mr Zahoor and his lawyers.

Deciding on the long-running defamation case brought by Umar Farooq Zahoor against the VG Chief Editor and reporter Rolf John Widerøe,

Judge Abid Zubair, Additional District and Session court in Ferozwala, ruled that it was abundantly clear through evidence that Rolf John Widerøe and the VG Chief Editor defamed the plaintiff by publishing a false· statement through the electronic media “and the said statement has injured the reputation of the plaintiff and also tends to lower him in the estimation of others to ridicule”.

The court ruling has ordered that both the defendants should pay “Rs30 million as damages to the plaintiff including litigation fee”.

The ruling has been made ex-parte because both the Chief Editor of Verdens Gang (VG) and its reporter Rolf John Widerøe refused to engage with the court despite several requests, summons and reminders. Late last year, both were declared as proclaimed offenders by the same court in Pakistan over their deliberate failure to appear before the court for publishing a false and defamatory story on businessman Umar Farooq Zahoor.

The judgement noted that Umar Farooq Zahoor “has an impeccable reputation in different business and social circles for his businesslike social and philanthropy work as well as also enjoys respect in the diplomatic community even he earlier represented as Ambassador at Large for other NGOs. It is significant to mention here that the plaintiff has also provided energy solutions to different African countries and also closed transactions to the tune of almost 5-billion dollars in the last one decade in different countries. The plaintiff has also been awarded different honours for his work and has also the privilege of advising the Royal Family in financial discipline”.

The judgeent added: “The defendants (VG Chief Editor and reporter Rolf John Widerøe) in collusion with each other have been running a malicious campaign against the plaintiff (Umar Farooq Zahoor) since long for his religion and race. It will not be out of place to mention here that the aforementioned VG tabloid is known for publishing anti¬Islam and anti-Pakistan content and the plaintiff has been the victim of the defendants since long as they are pressurising and blackmailing the plaintiff.

“It is very much clear beyond any doubt that the defendants have always been raising false allegations against the plaintiff without any proof and the same is defamatory. It has also been observed that the defendants always report one-sided which further reflects their ill-intent, malafide and such practice is also against the norms of fair journalism and fair reporting.”

Judge Abid Zubair, Additional District and Session court in Ferozwala, had declared Mr Rolf John Widerøe and the chief editor as proclaimed offenders through court declaration published in leading English dailies of Pakistan –after the failure of Mr Rolf J. Widerøe and the VG Editor to earlier notices, sent and served in Norway at the address of the tabloid. Both of them refused to appear before the court and failed to provide any evidence to back up their libellous story after the court issued summons in November last year. Both Mr Rolf John Widerøe and the chief editor spoke about the Pakistan litigation against them in Norway media but refused to deal with the Pakistani court orders.

Dubai-based business tycoon Umar Farooq Zahoor sued Verdens Gang (VG) and its reporter Rolf J. Widerøe for publishing a defamatory and vindictive article against him, in which facts were concealed to harm his reputation and services for Pakistan in the form of bringing millions of dollars in direct foreign investment to Pakistan.

Zahoor’s lawyers had accused the right-wing tabloid of targeting the businessman “with malicious intent for the last fifteen years by publishing defamatory articles” and for “witch hunting” since long and that the main reason for orchestrating this false campaign is "islamophobia, racism and your personal score against our client”. Umar Farooq Zahoor’s lawyers highlighted that the tabloid’s personalized campaign was biased and Islamophobic as it has deliberately hidden key facts while attacking Zahoor. It rejected allegations of fraud by Zahoor in the Nordea Bank Norway fraud case.

The claim letter said: “A case was registered at Norway in the year 2010 wherein certain officials of Nordea Bank of Norway, in collusion with some private persons, fraudulently deprived one Randi Nelson of a colossal sum of money and transferred the said amount to the banks in UAE and Norway. It is worth mentioning here that our client has never been to Norway since 2005 whereas the alleged occurrence took place in the year 2010. The Law Enforcement Agencies of Norway initially initiated the investigation in the year 2011. The persons involved in the crime were prosecuted in Norway and some were punished and some of them were acquitted."

“That our client was also made part of investigation for merely having connection with the persons at UAE allegedly involved in the said fraud and due to passing by remarks of the judge who conducted the trial of Nordea Bank fraud. The aforesaid remarks were passed without any proof of involvement of our client in the fraud. It was for this reason that the decision and remarks of the judge were turned over by the Appellate Court. The investigation initiated against our client was closed in the year 2013 due to lack of evidence. It is astonishing that neither the news of closure of investigation nor the turning over of the remarks of the trial judge was reported by your tabloid.”

The defamation lawsuit informed that the Norwegian authorities reopened the investigation in 2015 and obtained a Red Warrant of our client from INTERPOL but the Law Enforcement Agency at the UAE refused to hand over custody of Zahoor to the Norwegian authorities as the Norway prosecution failed to provide any evidence regarding involvement of Zahoor in the alleged crime.

The lawsuit to Verdens Gang (VG) tabloid said it deliberately didn’t tell its readers that the Presiding Judicial Officer, namely Arild Nesdal, who gave passing remarks against Umar Farooq Zahoor, relied upon by the tabloid, while awarding sentence to one of the accused in the alleged fraud has himself been convicted in child pornography offences. The charge against Arild Nesdal was of downloading and possessing objectionable images and videos relating to sexual abuse of children – leading to his conviction.

The lawsuit said that the reporter Rolf. J. Wideroe was aware of the grave nature of the crime as the former judge was himself adjudicating the matters pertaining to child abuse and he himself committed such offence while sitting in his chambers at Oslo District Court but the tabloid intentionally concealed this important fact while covering story of Nordea Bank case.

The lawsuit said that Shehzad Akbar, ex-Advisor to then prime minister Imran Khan on Accountability, in connivance with Zahoor’s ex-wife Khushbakht Mirza, again opened the same case in Pakistan but all fabricated cases were shut down after independent inquiries found them to be bogus and malicious.

It also revealed that the Norwegian tabloid in a vindictive move registered a criminal case against Zahoor on allegations of threatening the tabloid but the case was dismissed by the Oslo Police after thorough probe vide Notification dated March 23, 2023. "It is beyond imagination how our client can threaten your tabloid while not being in Norway," the letter said.

The lawsuit noted that Rolf J. Widerøe has been a proclaimed offender in Pakistan since 2015.

It said: “A criminal case bearing No. 222/2015 was registered against him for depriving a Pakistani citizen Maqsood Ali of ten million rupees by making a false promise of getting him a Norwegian passport during his visit to Nawabshah, Pakistan. it says: After receiving hefty payment Rolf J. Widerøe firstly threatened Maqsood Ali of dire consequences and finally managed to flee from Pakistan. The law enforcement agency managed to secure non-bailable arrest warrants of Rolf. J. Widerøe from the competent court of law. Subsequently, request for issuance of Red Warrants was made for Rolf. J. Widerøe. He is still absconding from the process of law and wanted by the law enforcement agencies of Pakistan. Your tabloid is continuously publishing stories of a proclaimed offender who intentionally distorts and conceals facts for his own personal gains.”