Clare claims slain DPP gave her alleged draft charge sheet on Najib

Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown has claimed that murdered MACC-linked deputy public prosecutor Kevin Morais sent her a draft of an alleged charge sheet, which the authorities later claimed was fake, against Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak on the 1MDB scandal.

She made the claim in her defence statement in relation to a defamation suit filed against her in the UK by PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang.

She also claimed that she received the document a day after former attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail was removed from his position on July 27, 2015.

"The defendant (Rewcastle-Brown) had received the draft indictments and information relating to the planned prosecution of Najib and the consequent dismissal of (Gani), the day after that dismissal, from a public prosecutor, Kevin Morais," read the defence statement sighted by Malaysiakini.

Gani was removed on the grounds of health reasons. At the time he was heading a joint-taskforce probing the 1MDB issue.

Rewcastle-Brown further claimed that Morais had given her information regarding the MACC probe into former-1MDB subsidiary SRC International and that the lawyer had planned to meet her in London.

Former MACC chief Abu Kassim Mohamed denied that the lawyer was involved in the 1MDB probe - which looked into the RM2.6 billion donation from a Saudi royal to Najib, as well as the RM42 million transferred into Najib's bank account.

"Morais was transferred out of the MACC in July 2014, one year before the investigations into 1MDB ever began, and never attended any of the special task force meetings chaired by the former attorney-general.

"We would like to put the record straight that MACC has never sought advice from Morais on both cases. Therefore, Morais could not be, and was not, involved in writing any charge sheet relating to 1MDB or the prime minister.

"Any statement to the contrary is completely false," Abu Kassim had said.

Gani's successor Mohamed Apandi Ali had also said that Morais was not involved the 1MDB probe.

Apandi had dismissed the purported draft charge sheet against Najib - which Sarawak Report published days after Gani's removal - as fake.

Apandi later cleared Najib of any wrongdoing in both the RM2.6 billion and SRC International cases.

Sarawak Report has been accused of being part of a conspiracy to topple the Najib administration, which Rewcastle-Brown has denied.

Morais was murdered in September 2015. He was reported missing on Sept 4, and his remains were found stuffed into a concrete-filled drum two weeks later on Sept 16.

Six men have been charged with the murder while a pathologist has been accused of abetment. The trial is still ongoing. Morais had acted as prosecutor in a corruption case against the pathologist.

Hadi filed the defamation suit against Rewcastle-Brown over an article which suggested that PAS received some RM90 million from Najib.

PAS leaders have denied this allegation.- Mkini