Clare's claims true, IGP urged to drop arrest warrant

Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua has urged inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar to drop the arrest warrant against Sarawak Report editor-in-chief Clare Rewcastle-Brown.

This is after leaked 1MDB meeting minutes corroborated with the allegations made by Rewcastle-Brown, which the government had accused her of fabricating.

"The minutes dated Oct 3, 2009, soon after the signing of the 1MDB-Petrosaudi joint venture agreement, provided a damning confirmation that all the earlier documents leaked by the Sarawak Report were completely authentic.

"Instead, the minutes proved that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and his cohort of ministers, as well as the current 1MDB president Arul Kanda’s repeated attempts to taint the leaked information and documents by the whistleblower website are clear cut lies," said Pua in a statement today.

In August, police issued an arrest warrant against Rewcastle-Brown under Section 124B and 124I of the Penal Code which concerns activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy and the publication of false information.

Rewcastle-Brown had doggedly reported about allegations of wrongdoing by 1MDB including claims that US$700 million was siphoned out of the company through a sham joint-venture with PetroSaudi International.

Pua (photo) said the minutes showed the misappropriation of US$700 million to an account unauthorised and unrelated to the joint venture.

"The Sarawak Report had previously revealed that the US$700 million was transferred to the bank account of Good Star Limited in Switzerland, which was controlled by Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low.

"With the evidence now clearly showing that the Sarawak Report had published the truth without any form of tampering, the IGP must withdraw the arrest warrant against Rewcastle-Brown for the frivolous and trumped-up charge of a conspiracy to topple a democratically elected government.

"The failure of the IGP to withdraw their actions will only serve to prove that their actions are 'politically motivated', contrary to their claims of being independent and professional," said Pua. -Mkini