Sarawak Report editor defends 1MDB articles

KUALA LUMPUR: Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown has defended her reports on the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) financial saga, saying that they were written based on facts.

Rewcastle-Brown, when met outside the court complex lobby here yesterday, said she was surprised that her articles were mentioned during the hearing on former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s application to impose a gag order to prevent the media from discussing his criminal charges.

“None of my reports on this case appear to have been substantially disapproved.

“I do not think this is a jury trial, so I am sure that the judge is able to do his job in a normal way without being influenced by media reports.”

She said this when asked to comment on the submission by Najib’s lead counsel, Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, for a gag order to prevent the media from discussing the merits of his client’s criminal breach of trust and abuse of power cases.

It was learnt that RewcastleBrown went to the court complex in Jalan Duta here to attend a hearing on the election petition for the Jasin parliamentary seat before High Court judge Datuk Che Mohd Ruzima Ghazali.

Shafee, in submitting the 19page document, said several articles published by the media, particularly Sarawak Report, were biased and unfair towards his client.

He claimed that initial statements made by Sarawak Report, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Attorney-General Tommy Thomas and Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng were the “seed of poison” to the people.

On July 4, the High Court allowed Najib’s application for an interim gag order to prevent the media from discussing the merits of his criminal breach of trust and abuse of power cases.

Shafee told the court that the defence and prosecution teams exchanged legal documents on the gag order application on Thursday.