Clare Brown’s Possible Money-Laundering Legal Problem

By Raja Petra Kamarudin Last updated Mar 8, 2019

Clare’s claim that the RM1.4 million is out-of-court settlement costs was to get Bank Negara’s approval to take the money out of the country. If not, she would face problems. This was also to make it easier for the money to enter the UK. If not, they would investigate her for money-laundering.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

As Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said, arresting and charging Najib Tun Razak is easy, proving he committed a crime is another thing altogether. Najib’s trial may take years, like in Anwar Ibrahim’s case, and in the end the court may find him not guilty.

The problem is, Najib need not prove anything. All he needs to do is raise doubts. The prosecution needs to prove Najib’s guilt beyond any shadow of doubt. And if there is even 10% doubt, then the benefit of the doubt needs to be given to the accused. That is how it goes.

Clare said Ambiga told her about the RM90 million cheque

Clare Rewcastle Brown said Ambiga Sreenevasan told her Najib gave PAS President Abdul Hadi Awang and a number of other PAS leaders RM90 million. The money, it seems, came from 1MDB while the purpose of the ‘bribe’ is to get PAS to abandon Pakatan Rakyat.

That was what Clare said Ambiga told her.

In law, that is called hearsay. You are relating what someone is alleged to have told you and hearsay is not evidence and is not admissible in court. The ‘maker’, in this case Ambiga, will need to go to court to testify that she did, in fact, tell Clare this. Ambiga will then need to prove she is telling the truth and she must have evidence to support this ‘truth’.

Ambiga will probably tell the court that this was what Husam Musa told her and that Husam had, in fact, seen the RM90 million cheque made out in the name of ‘Abdul Hadi Awang’ with Najib’s signature on the cheque.

Husam said he personally saw the RM90 million cheque

Husam will then be subpoenaed to testify in court where he will have to tell the court he personally saw the RM90 million cheque and the time, date and place this event occurred. He will tell the court the figure was RM90 million and the cheque was a 1MDB cheque and Najib’s signature, which he recognised, was on the cheque.

The bank officer or bank manager of the bank concerned will then have to go to court to confirm that cheque number so-and-so dated so-and-so signed by so-and-so for an amount of RM90 million was made out to ‘Abdul Hadi Awang’ and the cheque was banked into account number so-and-so at bank so-and-so on date so-and-so and was cleared.

(Phew…I think I will be a lawyer when I grow up.)

Tommy Thomas can now order Hadi’s arrest

So, all the government (or Tommy Thomas) needs to now do is order the arrest of Hadi and charge him in court under the Anti-Money Laundering Act or AMLA. Then the prosecutor can summon Clare, Ambiga, Husam, the bank officer/manager, etc., to testify in court. The cancelled cheque can also be tendered as evidence showing RM90 million, Najib’s signature, the bank/account it was banked into, etc.

Then Hadi can be sent to jail together with all those others who had a share of this RM90 million.

It is actually very easy. And with all these witnesses and hard evidence, there is no way Hadi can escape and the trial should be over very fast.

But then why do they not do this? Why keep talking about the RM90 million cheque without taking it beyond just talking since this allegation is based on witnesses and hard evidence?

Americk said the RM1.4 million is an out-of-court settlement but cannot prove it

There is another case looming over the horizon, also involving money-laundering. And this case involves the UK as well.

Clare alleges that the KTMB Chairman, Rameli Musa, paid her RM1.4 million. She further alleges that Rameli paid her the RM1.4 million on behalf of PAS and that it was for the out-of-court settlement in the case between her and Hadi.

Lawyer Americk Sidhu said the same thing and said the cheque was from a third party and that the third party signed the cheque in front of him and that it was for the out-of-court settlement.

In his press conference yesterday, Hadi said someone who was representing Clare had approached him before GE14 in 2017 to negotiate an out-of-court settlement and he had refused.

Hadi said Clare’s agent approached him in 2017 to settle their case out of court but Hadi declined

So, it was clear that this out-of-court settlement had been proposed back in 2017, not recently in 2019, and that Clare or her agents had made the first move. So why would Hadi pay Clare RM1.4 million when she, and not he, wanted to settle the case out of court? Furthermore, the out-of-court settlement agreement clearly states there is going to be no costs involved on both sides.

The fact that Rameli paid Clare RM1.4 million is indisputable. Even the lawyer confirms this. The purpose Rameli paid Clare RM1.4 million and on whose instructions, however, is not clear.

Clare’s claim that the RM1.4 million is out-of-court settlement costs was to get Bank Negara’s approval to take the money out of the country. If not, she would face problems. This was also to make it easier for the money to enter the UK. If not, they would investigate her for money-laundering.

What did Rameli tell the MACC as to why he paid Clare RM1.4 million and on whose instructions?

My guess would be the out-of-court settlement claim was to avoid money-laundering charges. And Americk played along with this to help strengthen the out-of-court settlement story. Hadi, however, denies he paid Clare any out-of-court settlement costs.

The last piece in the puzzle would be to hear what Rameli told the MACC. Did Rameli tell the MACC the name of the person who asked him to pay Clare the RM1.4 million? Rameli is close to Mahathir, Tun Daim Zainuddin, Anwar Ibrahim, and Hadi (plus hundreds of other people, of course). Who, (Mahathir, Daim, Anwar or Hadi) asked him to pay Clare RM1.4 million and for what purpose? Hadi already said it was not him. So that leaves Mahathir, Daim and Anwar.

I bet you were hoping I would tell you who of the three asked Rameli to pay Clare RM1.4 million and for what reason. That story will be later lah! Cannot lah cerita semua in one article. Come back later and you might be able to find out the answer to that question.