‘HADI PAID OUR LEGAL FEES TO END SUIT’
Pas paid RM1.4m as out-of-court settlement, says Rewcastle-Brown
PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang had to foot Sarawak Report’s RM1.4 million in legal bills in order to exit the defamation suit which he filed against the portal.
The whistle-blower portal’s editor, Clare Rewcastle-Brown, confirmed this on the Sarawak Report yesterday.
She, however, said this was not stated in the mutual settlement as Hadi’s lawyers placed the sum in escrow prior to the withdrawal.
In her blog post, RewcastleBrown attached an excerpt from a letter of undertaking to affirm the sum was paid, adding that it was the only detail both parties consented to keep confidential.
She, however, said, “There are no documents proving Sarawak Report was not paid, to the contrary there is copious evidence showing we were paid by agents of Hadi Awang to allow him to withdraw his claim”.
She was responding to PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s revelation on Wednesday that she was paid RM1.4 million as part of an out-of-court settlement in the defamation suit in London.
He also said he had documents to back his claim.
Pas secretary-general Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan, however, denied this, saying there was no money involved in the settlement.
“The out-of-court agreement did not oblige Sarawak Report to provide any of the remedies sought in Hadi’s claim, such as keeping silent on the subject of Umno payments to Pas or anything else, since Sarawak Report had refused to apologise for its remarks or to surrender its commitment to fair reporting in the interest of the public,” said Rewcastle-Brown.
She also took a swipe at Hadi and Pas leaders for paying the RM1.4 million to end the suit, adding that they would have, however, spent significantly more had they pursued the case to the last only to lose.
She drew on the inconsistencies in the party’s claims and statements that could have landed Hadi and his witnesses in trouble in court which she alleged was likely to have caused his premature withdrawal.
“If they continued to contradict each other in front of an English court, someone would have committed perjury for lying in a London lawsuit.
“Syariah-compliant” lying is not recognised in the UK civil court any more than in most Muslim countries,” she added.
She also said she was dropping the confidentiality agreement as Pas leaders had breached it by misrepresenting the issue a number of times or totally denying its existence when they should have held their tongue.
“Sarawak Report, therefore, is entitled to consider itself released from confidentiality also, in order to be able to tell the truth to the Malaysian people who are being misled,” she blogged, while attaching a photograph of a cheque for the amount.
Hadi had taken RewcastleBrown to court for defamation in 2017 over a report in 2016 that alleged that Pas leaders took RM90 million to support Umno and Barisan Nasional ahead of the 14th General Election.
He, however, withdrew the suit filed in London, the UK, this year. This has caused many to ask whether he was no longer disputing the accuracy of the report that remains on the Sarawak Report website.
Previously, Pas leaders met Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad ahead of the Semenyih by-election.
Sources told the New Straits Times that Pas had apparently sought the meeting and while it’s not immediately known if Rewcastle-Brown’s claims were discussed, the timing of the meeting has raised eyebrows.
On how Anwar was alerted to the matter, Rewcastle-Brown said it was based on a letter from her to Malayan Banking Bhd, confirming that she had instructed her lawyers to transfer the RM1.4 million to her Barclays Bank account in London, with the amount converted to £260,000.
On Thursday, Takiyuddin reportedly claimed that Pas had evidence to disprove Anwar’s claims and would hold a tell-all press conference.