UK journalist denies demanding money for setting up Moussavi-Akbar meeting

LONDON: British journalist David Rose on Tuesday rejected Kaveh Moussavi’s claim about demanding money from him [Moussavi] for setting up a meeting between Kaveh Moussavi and Prime Minister’s aide on accountability  Shahzad Akbar to discuss Broadsheet case, ARY News reported.

In a series of tweets, David Rose said, “Kaveh Moussavi’s claim that I asked him for money for arranging a meeting with Shahzad Akbar to discuss the Broadsheet case is false. I really can’t imagine why he’s saying this in public now, 17 months after the meeting.”

The journalist, who writes for The Mail on Sunday and Mail Online, also shared a screenshot of a conversation between him and Kaveh Moussavi. David Rose further said that Moussavi offered him money but he refused it.

Read: Broadsheet scandal: Federal govt prepares ToRs for inquiry commission

“My reply is below. He didn’t seem too impressed. Well folks. You can decide who you want to believe. It’s true he offered me money, but I refused it. But he did ask for money from me and my paper,” he said in a tweet.

“Maybe one of the reporters who interviewed him about the meeting with Mr Akbar will now be able to discover what this great info he implies he has about the Sharif family consists of. Let’s hope he doesn’t ask for a million to give it up,” he said in a tweet.

Broadsheet owner Kaveh Moussavi had alleged that British journalist David Rose asked for a commission in exchange for his assistance in recovering the sum of about $29 million from the Pakistan government.

It is pertinent to mention here that UK-based asset recovery firm Broadsheet LLC had been hired in 2000 by General Pervez Musharraf’s government to help recover assets stashed by past Pakistani rulers abroad.

Read More: Justice Retd Azmat Saeed appointed head of Broadsheet commission

Broadsheet CEO Kaveh Mousavi in an interview had said that he was offered a $25 million bribe to drop an asset probe against the Sharif family.

The federal government recently notified the appointment of Justice (retd) Azmat Saeed Shaikh as the head of an inquiry commission to investigate into Broadsheet scandal.