Passing the buck

PAS denies any involvement in payment amid proof of settlement

PAS says its president did not pay off Sarawak Report editor to settle a libel suit. Clare Rewcastle Brown says Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang did. Others like Rafizi Ramli decided to play sleuth, uncovering the cheque’s signatory. The RM1.4mil did change hands – only a third party forked out the sum.

PETALING JAYA: As Sarawak Report provided proof that RM1.423mil was indeed paid to settle out-of-court a suit brought against it by the PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang, the party added an extra twist by claiming it had nothing to do with the payment.

PAS secretary-general Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan, responding to an expose by Sarawak

Report editor Clare Rewcastle Brown on Thursday, said “No payment came from PAS, or Hadi.”

“These are not our (bank) documents and Rewcastle Brown has to prove that these documents are proof that we allegedly paid her,” he added.

Asked who was the person who made the settlement for the amount as claimed by Rewcastle Brown, Takiyuddin said:

“Neither PAS nor Hadi paid anything to Rewcastle Brown and we stand by that.” Takiyuddin, a lawyer, instead said the out-ofcourt settlement was made between Hadi and Rewcastle Brown “at no cost”.

He denied knowledge of any payment made to Rewcastle Brown as alleged by her.

Takiyuddin was responding to the report on the whistle-blower site which published documents along with an image of the cheque for RM1.423mil as proof that PAS had paid to settle the libel suit.

The report revealed documents on the site to prove that she received more than RM1.4mil as out-of-court settlement in Hadi’s libel suit against Rewcastle Brown.

It published the terms of the out-of-court agreement, which included a Bank Islam cheque for the amount paid out to her lawyer Americk Sidhu’s client account, and a cover letter to Malayan Banking Bhd to transfer the funds to Rewcastle Brown’s bank account in London.

However, the signature on the Bank Islam cheque and bank account number was redacted.

Another document posted showed a 10-digit Bank Islam account number from which the cheque was issued, although Bank Islam accounts are known to have 14 digits.

PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli played sleuth with the account number and using his own formula, deduced the actual 14 digit number of the account.

“I decided to do some research to see if the account existed. The 10 digits stated in the agreement were only part of the full 14 digit account number.

“I checked on the pattern of the 14 digits of all Bank Islam cheques available on the Internet,” Rafizi stated on Facebook. Rafizi claimed that the RM1.4mil settlement was made by a businessman.

Sources said the person who signed the cheque was a businessman from Kelantan who was appointed to a prominent government-linked company.

The sources confirmed that the businessman was a Datuk and they also claimed that he was a PAS member.

The Datuk, who keeps a low profile, is also on the board of directors of a public-listed company.

Takiyuddin maintained that Hadi did not breach the confidentiality agreement by having revealed that PAS did not pay anything to

Sarawak Report.

“When we referred to the settlement, we were merely stating our defence to the allegation made by PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in Semenyih that PAS paid RM1.4mil to Rewcastle Brown.

“It was Rewcastle Brown who had breached the agreement by revealing everything,” said Takiyuddin.

On Feb 1, Abdul Hadi and Rewcastle Brown had agreed to an out-of-court settlement on the libel suit he filed against her on April 21, 2017 over an article alleging that PAS received RM90mil from then Umno president Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

On Wednesday at a Semenyih by-election campaign speech, Anwar said that he had documents to prove that PAS paid Rewcastle Brown to settle the libel suit in a London court.

Takiyuddin said what Anwar said was very damaging to the integrity of PAS, maintaining that no payment was made by Hadi or PAS.

Asked about the authenticity of the documents posted by Sarawak Report, Takiyuddin said the “burden of proof is on the Sarawak

Report editor.”

“These are not our documents. There is no proof that the payments came from PAS,” he added.

PAS Information Chief Nasrudin Hasan, in a Facebook post, claimed that Sarawak Report had given a fake account number

He said some of his friends checked on the authenticity of the account by trying to make online cash transfers and “found the account to be non-existent”.