由此 - 20 - A B 70. A This accusation that an ARY company bribed Mr. Zardari to secure a gold import monopoly in Pakistan is not new. Similar accusations C B C have been levied against ARY in a variety of publications since 1994. D D E 71. For this reason, although denying the allegations of bribery, E Mr. Paul Carolan (appearing for the Plaintiffs) in opening stated that no F G complaint was being made here of those parts of the Article concerning the Zardari corruption case in Pakistan. There is consequently no purpose in F G my considering Section IV further. H H I J (f) 72. Section V I Section V suggests that ARY has links with tribal leaders in J Waziristan. Although not expressly stated, the Article’s implication seems K L to be that, these tribal leaders being connected with the Taliban, it can be presumed that ARY also has links with the Taliban. The suggestion is then K L made that, in the past, until the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001, ARY M would transfer gold from Afghanistan to Dubai on behalf of the Taliban. N N 73. O P M ARY’s response at trial was robust. He described the allegation of tribal connections as “utter nonsense”. He stated (and this was not disputed in cross-examination) that he had “never met any tribal O P leaders” and had “never visited any tribal areas in my life”. Q Q R 74. The Article cites as a source of the link between the ARY and R the Taliban a Washington Post article by Mr. Douglas Farah dated S T S 17 February 2002. The Article mentions that the Washington Post printed a letter from ARY responding to the Farah article. T U U V V