Political elite, famous people accused of immorality

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan’s happiness, following Nawaz Sharif’s disqualification by Supreme Court on July 28 last, proved short-lived Tuesday after his party’s female legislator, Ayesha Gulalai Wazir, directly accused him of “immorality.”

To the sheer delight of ruling PML-N, panic was visibly seen during the press conference of Imran Khan’s spokesperson Shireen Mazari as she came to defend her party leader at the National Press Club of Islamabad.

During her press conference later in the evening, Gulalai went on to accuse Imran Khan of sending her obnoxious text messages over phone and talked about sex-related misdemeanors of his party stalwarts.

Given the tense political environment of Pakistan and public polarization currently, it can thus safely be predicted that if sanity doesn’t prevail, a lot more scams pertaining to “immorality” of scores of politicians hailing from various political parties are likely to surface on social media and mainstream media both.

Although Pakistan’s political history is littered with sex scams, transgressions and affairs of politicians and ruling elite, as is the case with any given nation on the world map, a few such instances which instantly come to mind include a former general’s  ‘spicy relationship’ with a woman; and a religious leader’s alleged relationship with a woman. After she was arrested, she accused the leader of patronizing her business.

The supporters said the scandal was set up to silence their religious leader. A former president’s relative, who was a politician, was booked in a case involving the alleged torture and gang-rape of a woman.

According to the “Associated Press,” the woman had testified: “The men “just went berserk. They were like animals” and I was “savagely beaten and molested for 12 hours.” The accused had denied the allegations.

Global ruling elite and famous personalities charged in sexual scandals: History tells that an uncountable number of high-ranking personalities including presidents, premiers, politicians, ministers, sportsmen and showbiz celebrities have often been found guilty of having ‘spicy relationships.’

As a result, many of these highly placed people were convicted, arrested, fined and ousted for their lucrative positions. According to the “Forbes” magazine:” Political sex shenanigans as tabloid fodder date back to at least 1963, when Britain’s Secretary of State for War John Profumo attempted to cover up his affair with a showgirl, who had also been cavorting with a Soviet intelligence officer.

The incident caused outrage in the UK and put a serious dent in the government of Prime Minister Harold MacMillan.” A widely quoted book “A people and a nation: a history of the United States,” has mentioned that former American President John F. Kennedy had numerous extra-marital affairs, including one with a 19-year old girl. Various other writers have claimed that the late Kennedy was involved in a deep relationship with Marilyn Monroe, the leading US actress of her time.

Kennedy did not live much but one of his successors, Bill Clinton, was found guilty of having an affair with a 22-year-old White House intern, Monica Lewinsky.

It was the investigation in this case that had eventually led to the impeachment of Clinton on December 19, 1998 by the US House of Representatives and his subsequent acquittal on all impeachment charges of perjury and obstruction of justice in a 21-day Senate trial that had started on January 7, 1999.

After his trial, Clinton said he was “profoundly sorry” for the burden his behavior imposed on Congress and the American people.

A woman, Paula Jones also alleged Clinton of sexual harassment. Clinton’s wife Hillary was subjected to a smear campaign ahead of the 2008 US Presidential campaign.

“The Times” of UK had reported on November 22, 2007: “The anonymous e-mails and letters began dropping into inboxes and through front doors this summer. One claimed that Hillary Clinton was having a lesbian affair with Huma Abedin, her beautiful aide.”

A US writer Edward Klein had earlier written a controversial book “The truth about Hillary: What She Knew, When She Knew It, and How Far She’ll Go to Become President” about the Secretary of State’s private life, terming her a lesbian.

Reviewing the contents of this book, “The New York Times” had written on July 31, 2005 that the writer had relied too much on nasty personal comments about Senator Clinton provided by anonymous sources.

On March 22, 2011 an Israeli court had awarded a seven-year sentence to the country’s former President, Moshe Katsav, on rape charges.

According to Al-Jazeera TV, the judges had also handed the former Israeli leader a two-year suspended sentence and ordered him to pay a fine.

President Katsav was convicted in December 2010 of rape, sexual harassment, indecent acts and obstruction of justice, following a four-year scandal that had rattled Israel.

Apart from accusations of corruption etc, former Italian Premier, Silvio Berlusconi, is also confronted with a host of sex scandals, which also led to his divorce in 2009.

In 2009, Berlusconi was accused of having an illicit relationship with a girl called Noemi Letizia, though he had denied it vehemently.

The Italian Press, including the famous newspapers “la Republica” and “Avvenire” had also printed a lot of truth and gossip about the Premier’s friendship with a woman named Palazzo Grazioli, his ‘paid associations’ with a retired actress Patrizia D’Addario and a Bulgarian actress Michelle Bonev.

And then came the teenage Moroccan belly dancer and alleged prostitute, Karima El Mahroug alias Ruby Rubacuori, who claimed in November 2010 to have been given $10,000 by Berlusconi at ‘nude parties’ at his private villas.

According to a BBC report, although Berlusconi’s trial had begun on April 6 this year, it was adjourned till May 31 because neither the Italian Premier nor the alleged underage prostitute, Karima, was in court.

The BBC said, “Berlusconi faces up to 15 years in jail if found guilty. Over the weeks and months ahead, 20,000 pages of evidence will be presented and about 40 women will be called as witnesses.”

On June 16, 1998 the former Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega appeared in court to claim parliamentary immunity against sex abuse charges brought by his stepdaughter.

The BBC reported: “Mr Ortega, who was accompanied by his wife Rosario Murillo, said the accusations were a plot to undermine him. He presented documents to the judge showing his membership of the National Assembly and his immunity from prosecution. His stepdaughter, 30-year-old Zoilamerica Narvaez, said Mr Oretega repeatedly abused her from the age of 11.”

Former Zimbabwean President Canaan Banana was also arrested on charges of sodomy, following allegations made during the murder trial of his former bodyguard. Banana was found guilty of 11 charges of sodomy, attempted sodomy and indecent assault in 1998. He denied all charges, terming them “pathological lies.”

President Banana was sentenced in January 1999 to 10 years in jail, but he actually served six months in an open prison before being released in January 2001.

Former US Vice President Al Gore was accused by a US media outlet “The National Enquirer” on its website that he had ‘unwanted’ sexual contact with a massage technician in October 2006. Though Gore’s attorneys had denied the allegations, police detectives did sniff around a lot for evidence after the massage practitioner’s lawyer had reported to Portland police that the former US Vice President had sexually assaulted her in his hotel room.

Anwar Ibrahim, the former Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister, was sentenced to nine years for sodomy in 2000. In 2004, the Federal Court reversed his conviction and he was released due to contradictions in the prosecution’s case. In July 2008, he was again alleged of sodomising one of his male aides.

On April 7, 2010, the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had fired one of his aides amid a sex scandal.

According to the CNN, “Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas had fired his chief of staff despite an inquiry into a sex scandal that cleared the second-in-command of wrongdoing. Rafiq Husseini was accused of using the power of his office to extract sex from a female job seeker.

In April 2009, the then US President Obama’s half-brother, Samson Obama, was stopped from entering UK after lying to police over sex allegations.

“The Daily Mail,” in its April 12, 2009 edition had stated,” The half-brother of President Barack Obama was refused an entry visa to Britain after lying to police officers about an accusation of sexual assault. The deception occurred in November when Samson Obama, who lives in Kenya, was in Britain staying with his mother, who lives in Berkshire.

He was questioned by police about the alleged assault, which he denied but during the investigation he used a false name and he later received a police caution. When he applied for another visa, hoping to visit Britain last week, he was refused.”

The news was embarrassing to the US President, who had given his younger half-brother a personal tour of the White House in January 2009, when he had attended the historic inauguration.

In March 2015, for the first time in Indian legal history, the parliament had initiated proceedings to attempt to impeach a judge over allegations of sexual harassment.

Justice S. K. Gangele had found himself in the dock after a female additional district judge had accused him of sexual harassment alleging that she was forced to resign from the judicial service due to his “advances and malicious aspirations.”

In March 2015, as many as 58 Rajya Sabha (Senate) members had submitted a petition to the Rajya Sabha Chairperson, Hamid Ansari, to initiate a motion of impeachment under Article 124 of the Indian Constitution against the accused arbiter.

(Reference: The Indian Express)

In December 2014, an Indian Supreme Court bench had quashed that inquiry saying that the state chief justice had not constituted the two-judge panel correctly and the panel’s role should have been to only determine whether a deeper probe was necessary.

Justice Gangele was then stripped of administrative and supervisory roles.

A former British judge David Selwood, who had admitted a string of child abuse images offences, was given a 12 month rehabilitation order. He was charged after police had found 75 images of naked and semi-naked boys aged between eight and 14 on his laptop computer.

Yet another British arbiter, Richard Hoffman, was cautioned by police for alleged gross indecency. He was arrested with another man in public toilets.

Judge Hoffman was also reprimanded and warned by the Lord Chancellor that any repetition would be likely to lead to his dismissal.

In April 2015, David Petraeus, a former CIA director and the highest-profile general from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, was sentenced to two years’ probation for providing classified information to a woman with whom he was having an affair.

General Petraeus was also fined $100,000, more than double the amount the Justice Department had requested.

The Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange, was under probe by the Swedish police since August 2010 for his alleged involvement in two sexual encounters.

Assange appealed a February 2011 decision by English courts to extradite him to Sweden for questioning in relation to a sexual assault investigation.

In 2006, famous US comedian and actor Bill Cosby was reported to have settled a lawsuit with a woman alleging he had sexually assaulted her. The woman claimed that Cosby assaulted her at house in early 2004 after giving her some blue pills, which rendered her semiconscious, and that the comedian molested her.

Late singer Michael Jackson was first accused of child sexual abuse in 1993. His passion for having sex with children resurfaced in 2003, for which he was tried and later acquitted.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, actor-turned-Governor of California, also faced allegations of having sex with a woman at a gymnasium.

A 2001 article in “Premiere” magazine described many instances in which Schwarzenegger had fondled a female interviewer.

Boxing Champion Mike Tyson was convicted of raping an 18-year-old woman. He served three years of his six-year sentence.

Sex scams have also disgraced over a dozen Indian politicians.

 In 2009, the Governor of Andhra Pradesh, Narayan Dutt Tiwari had to quit for his immorality.

In 2009 again, a Smajawadi party leader Azam Khan was alleged by top actress Jaya Prada of distributing her fake nude pictures. Jaya was contesting polls at that time and had emerged victorious.

In 2008, Manmohan Samal, Minister for Revenue in Orissa, had to relinquish charge after he was found guilty in a similar scandal.

In 2005, Sanjay Joshi of the Bharatia Janata Party was caught ‘red handed’ while he was in the middle of a merry-making act.

In 2003, Amarmani Tripathi, then cabinet minister of Uttar Pradesh, was jailed for murdering his girlfriend, Madhumita Shukla.

In 2003, Harak Singh Rawat, a former revenue minister of Uttarakhand state, was found guilty.

In 1997, PK Kunjalikutty, a Kerala politician and in 1998, JB Patnaik, the Chief Minister of Orissa, were reported for their alleged involvement in similar cases.

In 1978, Suresh Ram, the son of the then Indian Defence Minister Jagjivan Ram, was also found involved in an act of adultery.

According to the website of the prestigious “Forbes” magazine, Prince Victor Emmanuel, son of Italy’s last king, was arrested in 2006 for his involvement in a crime ring that recruited prostitutes for a casino in Switzerland.

Forbes adds that Willie Knuckles, a senior Liberian minister and chief of staff to President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, had to resign in 2007 after a national newspaper had published a nude photo of him.

Forbes also cited the example of an Indonesian politician Yahya Zaini, who had resigned in 2006 after a video clip of him frolicking nude with his country’s pop singer Maria Eva was circulated on the Internet.

The eminent US magazine further had further stated that in August 2007, China’s Finance Minister Jin Renqing, was reportedly ousted for his alleged involvement in a sex scandal.

In 2006, European Commission Vice President Gunter Verheugen’s nude photographs with his chief of staff, Petra Erler, were published by a German magazine.

Innumerable US Senators like Barney Frank, James McGreevey, Jesse Jackson, Gary Condit, Eliot Spitzer, Jay Reynolds, Gerry Eastman Studds, Frederick Richmond, Neil Goldschmidt, Neil Goldschmidt, Joseph Waggonner and Jerry Springer etc have also been fined, convicted and thrown out in similar incidents.

Article source: https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/220903-Political-elite-famous-people-accused-of-immorality