One proprietor of a major media house stated that Government misused its powers on control of advertising and of secret funds to conduct character assassination of individuals such as himself and of his media group because of the independent policies of his group and candid criticism of Governmental corruption, miss-governance and nepotism. He said that despite the fact that his media group paid the highest levels of tax to the public exchequer, unfounded and exaggerated claims were filed by Government entities against his media group in order to harass him and his associates and to defame names and reputations as alleged tax evaders. He reiterated the media group’s intention to abide by its independent polices regardless of the price that has to be paid and called for a policy on Government-controlled advertising which will be genuinely transparent and contain effective checks and balances in place of the existing arrangements and policies which merely appear to be transparent but which, in practice, are easily manipulated and misused.
