News Desk |
A man, Mian Tariq Mehmood, arrested on charges of his alleged involvement in the video scandal involving accountability court judge Arshad Malik has revealed to authorities that he had sold Judge Malik’s immoral ‘Multan video’ for Rs110 million and a V8 jeep.
Contradicting his father’s figures, Mehmood’s son Mian Faisal told the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) that the video was sold for Rs70 million and a jeep. Besides, it has also seized a V8 jeep that was handed over to Tariq as part of video scandal deal.
Most importantly, the FIA has seized a USB from Faisal that contains the videos of Malik and others being blackmailed by the group. During the investigation, it has emerged that Tariq, a resident editor of a newspaper and others had blackmailed Judge Malik on more than one occasion using the latter’s unethical videos and extorted large sums of money from him.
The FIA had arrested Tariq Mehmood on July 17 on charges of his alleged involvement in the video scandal. Judge Malik had named Mehmood in the affidavit submitted in the Islamabad High Court (IHC).
Apparently, he has told interrogators that he and the resident editor had forced Malik to sign agreements with them on stamp papers for the payment of money. The sources said Tariq and the resident editor had called Judge Malik to the office of the newspaper and threatened to make his videos public if he did not pay them.
The judge had then submitted his affidavit to the law ministry because he could no longer put up with the blackmailing.
Tariq’s Collection of Lewd Videos of Judges and Government Officials
Mian Tariq – one of the key accused in the video scandal involving Judge Malik, has also made stunning disclosures about his blackmailing network and how he and the newspaper editor were operating to extort money from members of judiciary and government officials.
He surprised the interrogators when he disclosed that he had a collection of personal and immoral videos of judges and government officials. While giving details to the investigators, he said, the people affiliated with the resident editor would make phone calls to the judges and government officials to blackmail using the videos.
Read more: Leaked Video of Judge Arshad Malik: How will it Impact the Ongoing Cases against the Sharifs?
The threat that they would publish the material in the newspaper forced many to fulfill their demands. Through these tactics, Tariq and other members of the group would receive illegal favors and millions of rupees from the judges and government officials.
FIA Arrests Key Accused Named in Judge Malik’s Affidavit
In a significant development, the FIA had arrested Tariq Mehmood on July 17 on charges of his alleged involvement in the video scandal. Judge Malik had named Mehmood in the affidavit submitted in the Islamabad High Court (IHC).
A man, Mian Tariq Mehmood, arrested on charges of his alleged involvement in the video scandal involving accountability court judge Arshad Malik
Following the arrest, the FIA officials produced Mehmood before a district and sessions court, which remanded his physical custody remand for two days.
Judge Malik’s Affidavit
In an affidavit submitted in IHC, Judge Malik had claimed he was offered Rs500 million by the son of ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif to resign on the pretext that he could “no longer deal with the guilt of having convicted the former premier under duress and without evidence”.
“Mian Tariq, an old social acquaintance from the time I was serving in Multan as additional district and sessions judge from 2000-2003, showed me a secretly recorded and manipulated immoral video in a compromising position saying that is it you doing this when you were serving in Multan,” the judge wrote in the affidavit.
Read more: FIA arrests key accused named in Judge Arshad Malik’s affidavit
The judge further claimed that he was blackmailed after being shown the video and told to record an audio message that he delivered the verdicts to appease the “ruling elite” under immense pressure and that substantial evidence was not available against the former prime minister.