LAHORE – Real estate tycoon Malik Riaz has distanced himself from an audioclip being attributed to him and his daughter Amber Riaz in which bothallegedly talked about a expensive gift for former First Lady Bushra Bibi.

In a statement shared on Twitter, Riaz said: “The audio attributed to me onthe social media is the product of this [deep-fake] technology.

“I do not want to be involved in the campaign of any political party but itis a fact that my voice was misused for political gain,” he added.

“I have been attacked repeatedly, now my family is also targeted. I intendto initiate legal proceedings in this matter and I will approach everylegal forum to track down the people behind this conspiracy,” the businesstycoon concluded.

Earlier, PML-N leader Ataullah Tarar, who is also spokesperson for thePunjab government, and PML-N Information Secretary Azma Bukhari made thealleged audio recording public during a press conference in Lahore. Itinvolves a conversation between Malik Riaz and his daughter Amber Riaz.

The two could be heard discussing how former first lady Bushra Bibi refusedto accept a three-carat diamond ring from them.

In the alleged audio, Amber could be heard telling her father that she sentthe then-first lady a three-carat diamond ring, but she refused to acceptit.

Without mentioning in the audio the name of the person she was going tomeet, Amber said she had a meeting with “her” on Saturday, therefore afive-carat diamond ring should be arranged for Bushra Bibi before themeeting, adding that the ring would cost Rs10 million.

Imran Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), also rejected the audiotape as “propaganda”.