LAHORE: PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif said on Sunday he will file a law suit against British Daily Mail after it published a report claiming that he and his family had been involved in money-laundering in Britain and embezzlement in British government's funds for earthquake.

"The fabricated and misleading story was published at the behest of Imran Khan and Shahzad Akbar. We will also launch legal proceedings against them," he tweeted. He said Imran Khan has yet to respond to three such cases he has filed against him for defamation.

PML-N spokesperson Maryam Aurangzeb also accused Imran Khan of the main character behind what she called as fake story. She also showed British Journalist David Rose photographs with the prime minister and his adviser on accountability Shehzad Akbar at Bani Gala, Islamabad.

Meanwhile the British journalist lashed out at the PML-N leaders for terming his news story on alleged embezzlement and money laundering by their party chairman Shehbaz Sharif as 'baseless' and 'propaganda campaign'.

In his report published in British newspaper Mail on Sunday, the journalist had alleged that Shahbaz Sharif and his family had allegedly embezzled and laundered millions of pounds out of £500 million aid coming from UK during his tenure as chief minister of Punjab.

However, the PML-N Spokesperson Maryam Aurangzeb termed it a conspiracy against the opposition leader hatched by the government. She also showed to media a picture showing the journalist sitting with Prime Minister Imran Khan and his Special Assistant Shahzad Akbar.

The journalist wrote to Twitter saying, "the PMLN trolls in Pakistan are posting a photo of me with Imran Khan, claiming this shows my article about Shehbaz Sharif was 'planted'."

"The photo was taken last year, when I interviewed him before the election. Here's the proof," he said while sharing the web link of the interview published on July 21, 2018 in the same paper.

David Rose also criticized the PML-N trolls and questioned his Twitter followers whether any of the PML-N trolls yet claimed that the story involved the "hand of India"?

Meanwhile, in his reaction to the rebuttal issued by Department for the International Development (DFID), the journalist termed it "nothing of the kind."

The DFID had said that the news story lacked any evidences to substantiate the claims made in the report.

"It merely repeats their statement quoted in the article, and claims the piece contains no evidence about the earthquake fund. Read it. It does. Poor show. More wasted cash!," David Rose commented. —NNI