PM Shehbaz Sharif asked to pay legal costs in Daily Mail case

In July 2019, David Rose of Daily Mail published a story regarding £500 million UK aid (UK taxpayers' money) for earthquake victims that was given to the province of Punjab when Sharif was Chief Minister. According to Daily Mail's story, Shehbaz Sharif embezzled and "stole" this amount and laundered it to Britain.

Shehbaz Sharif lodged a libel complaint against the Newspaper in 2020, claiming damages. Daily Mail submitted a 50 pages response to the complaint in the High Court of Justice, Queen's Bench in February this year and provided evidence regarding Sharif's misappropriation. Reportedly, Shehbaz Sharif did not submit reply (rebuttal) to the Newspaper response.

During current week, Shehbaz Sharif applied to the court for (indefinite) delay in the defamation case due to busy schedule of the Pakistani Premiere. The court rejected the plea, ordered Sharif to file (acceptable) rebuttal to Daily Mail's defence and also imposed cost of hearing against Shehbaz Sharif.