Sarah Pobereskin thanked Britain’s leading newspaper, The Telegraph, for issuing an unprecedented series of apologies and paying damages to her husband, Pakistani-American technology entrepreneur Zia Chishti, for incorrectly alleging that he had engaged in sexual misconduct.
Ms. Pobereskin spoke out after The Telegraph told The London High Court it apologised to Mr Chishti for alleging sexual misconduct by him towards a former employee of Afiniti Limited, Tatiana Spottiswoode.
Ms. Pobereskin said that her husband’s decisive win against The Telegraph over the false allegations had established that Mr Chishti was unfairly accused.
Ms. Pobereskin, a graduate of Cambridge University and Harvard Business school, said: “The past three years have been very challenging.
"As a professional woman with a couple decades of a career behind me, I know what it means to be a woman in the workplace, and some of the challenges that entails. I wholeheartedly believe, as my husband does, that everyone deserves to enjoy work and life without harassment. However, false accusations actually harm that mission, and sadly they only make women less likely to be believed."
“I am proud of my husband for taking the legal steps to clear his name. I am grateful to The Telegraph for the apology. These allegations caused us tremendous stress. We have two young children, and we were all put under huge stress due to a very unjust set of allegations. I look forward to continuing to rebuild our lives from here.”
Zia Chishti was the founder of Invisalign, which he led to a public listing on the NASDAQ in 2001; of The Resource Group, which he led to a public listing on the Pakistan Stock Exchange in 2003; and of Afiniti Limited.
He had sued the Telegraph Media Group (publisher of the Daily Telegraph and the Telegraph online) at the UK High Court over 13 articles published by The Telegraph between November 2021 to February 2023 which reported on allegations made by Ms. Spottiswoode.
Mr. Chishti fought a tough legal battle with the paper in London for over two years which involved disclosure and review of thousands of documents between Mr. Chishti and Ms. Spottiswoode.
The UK’s oldest newspaper conceded that the allegations it published were false, misleading and defamatory.
The Telegraph withdrew its position that its allegations were true and were in the public interest. It will run in perpetuity its subsequent apology on top of a record thirteen separate articles published online.
The Telegraph further agreed to pay Mr. Chishti substantial damages and legal costs. It acknowledged that Mr. Chishti has consistently disputed the allegations Ms. Spottiswoode made to a foreign government, which provided her with legal immunity against claims of defamation.
The Telegraph also acknowledged that, although he sought to provide evidence to disprove the allegations made against him, he was not given the opportunity to do so.
