Lawyer: I received RM1.42mil cheque as settlement for libel suit

PETALING JAYA: Sarawak Report’s lawyer has confirmed that he received a cheque for RM1.423mil as settlement for Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang’s libel suit against the whistle-blower site.

“I banked it into my client’s account. That is the exact cheque that I received,” Americk Sidhu said, referring to the cheque for the amount which was posted online by the site. He said the money was held in escrow until the two parties resolved all the prerequisites.

“Once the preliminaries were fulfilled, followed by the court order obtained from the London court, only then was I permitted to release the money to Clare,” he said when contacted yesterday.

On allegations that the Bank Islam bank account was fake, Americk replied: “Nonsense. Of course it was cleared. Whatever they say, the cheque was cleared in my client’s account and the money was transferred.

“If the cheque was fake or if it was a false account, it would never have been cleared.”

Americk said he received the cheque from a third party on Jan 24, but the cheque was post-dated to Jan 31, adding that he banked it into his client’s account a day or two later. “I then received instructions from Clare to transfer the money to her bank account in London.

“But, the bank (Maybank) said it was Bank Negara’s regulations to specify the reasons for transferring the money to another country.

“We then produced the court order but there was no mention of cost in the court order, so Clare had to write a personal letter to the bank (Maybank) dated Feb 19,” he said.

Americk added that the money was then transferred to London on Feb 19 and Rewcastle Brown received it about two to three days later.

In the site, Rewcastle Brown claimed that someone had acted as Hadi’s agent in the London court proceedings, adding that he liaised with PAS’ London lawyers Carter Ruck.

Americk also concurred that it was not Rewcastle Brown who breached the confidentiality agreement on the out-of-court settlement, and instead pinpointed PAS secretary-general Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan for denying that funds were paid to settle the case out-ofcourt.

He said Rewcastle Brown kept to the confidentiality agreement when she told several news agencies that she had “no comment” on the matter when PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim revealed that PAS had paid RM1.4mil to settle the suit.

Following Takiyuddin’s denial, Americk said Rewcastle Brown had no choice but to defend herself.

“If Takiyuddin’s statement was allowed to stand then it would mean that Clare was happy to walk away from the suit without her legal cost being paid which will imply that she was not very confident in her defence.

“Clare has been very confident from the beginning about her defence to Hadi’s suit.”