However, Clare Rewcastle-Brown declined to comment, saying she was leaving the matter to her lawyers.
PETALING JAYA: Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown has left it to her lawyers to handle a defamation suit filed by PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang.
“It is in the hands of my lawyers. It will not be appropriate to make statements at this early stage,” she told FMT in an e-mail reply.
Rewcastle-Brown, the founder of the news portal, said she was served with the writ and statement of claim on April 21.
She said this in response to an announcement by PAS secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan yesterday that Hadi had filed the suit against her.
The legal papers were filed at the London High Court on April 21.
Takiyuddin said PAS was seeking substantial damages and an injunction to compel Sarawak Report to remove the article titled “As Najib Denies All Over 1MDB, Let’s Not Forget His Many Other Criminal Connections – COMMENT”.
The suit is over a claim in the article that RM90 million was “reckoned” to have entered the accounts of top PAS leaders to woo them into supporting Umno and the Barisan Nasional.
PAS’ lawyer in London, Carter-Ruck, had sent a letter of demand to Rewcastle-Brown last December, seeking an apology and the removal of the article.
“But she failed to respond and has instead made several public statements which have further complicated the issue.” Takiyuddin said at a press conference on the sidelines of the party muktamar in Alor Setar yesterday.
PAS has also set up a special fund to collect money at the on-going muktamar for the “costly” legal expenses of the suit.
The Islamist party wants to raise RM200,000 to cover the legal cost. -FMT
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