Clare Brown Has ‘No Doubts’ Rameli Made RM1.423mil Payment On Behalf Of PAS

By MT Webmaster On Mar 8, 2019

(The Star) – Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle Brown still insists the out-of-court settlement with PAS was made by Keretapi Tanah Melayu Bhd (KTMB) chairman Datuk Rameli Musa on behalf of the party.

Online news portal Malaysiakini reported that Rewcastle Brown had confirmed with them that Rameli made the payment.

It added that she had “no doubt that Rameli was acting on the behalf of PAS and its president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang”.

According to Rewcastle Brown, Rameli had to keep going back for approval from PAS and Hadi after she rejected Hadi’s initial offer of £100,000 (RM536,064) to drop the suit.

“He had to go back to ask them, and so it went on until eventually we arrived at a sum which I found to be sufficient to pay my lawyers without losing too much money over this case.

“It was clear that Hadi was being consulted at every turn and the people around him,” she said, adding that Hadi’s lawyer also knew about it as they were the ones who drew up the terms of the settlement for the court.

The report also said Rewcastle Brown had challenged Hadi to reveal his version of the confidential terms of their out-of-court settlement.

She added that Hadi “can’t just deny it”.

“If there were confidential terms, and it wasn’t my payment, what does he think it was?” she asked.

Before this, Rewcastle Brown had published documents to prove that she received RM1.423mil for the out-of-court settlement with PAS.

PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli then revealed that the owner of the bank account which paid the money to Rewcastle Brown was Rameli.

Rameli has since been questioned by the Malaysian Anti-Cor­ruption Commission (MACC) over the alleged payment.

In 2017, Hadi sued Rewcastle Brown for libel in London over an August 2016 Sarawak Report article alleging that PAS received RM90mil to guarantee its support for Umno and Barisan Nasional.

She filed a counterclaim in October 2017, and on Feb 1 this year, Hadi opted for an out-of-court settlement.

Both Hadi and Rewcastle Brown have denied breaching the confidentiality agreement in the settlement. PAS has also continued to stand by its statement that neither the party nor its president had paid anything to Rewcastle Brown.