Hadi's statement: Clare didn't verify claims, treated him with contempt

PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang has accused Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown of not verifying the allegations against the Islamist party in her article.

He said the London-based Rewcastle-Brown did not check with him nor anyone else in PAS regarding the matter before publication.

“Nor did she afford him (Hadi) or PAS any opportunity to comment,” read his statement of claim filed on April 21, 2017 sighted by Malaysiakini.

Hadi has filed a defamation suit against Rewcastle-Brown in the UK over an article which suggested that PAS received RM90 million from Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

The PAS president revealed that his solicitors had complained to Rewcastle-Brown on behalf of him in a letter but did not receive a response despite a chasing request on Jan 5, 2017.

He also cited a Malaysiakini report dated Dec 17, 2016, in which the Sarawak Report editor was quoted as saying, "I note that PAS has paid a law firm to send a letter, which has no legal validity, and then immediately indulged in posturing in the media on the basis of that letter and in advance of their own deadline for a reply".

He also pointed to a Sarawak Report article dated Feb 11, 2017 which stated that Hadi does not have a case.

“That article referred to the complaint made by the claimant and stated the following: 'Sarawak Report is of the opinion that this individual does not have a case and neither does he embody the party PAS, which has not as an entity submitted any letters, claims or threats and would be hard-pressed to find grounds to sue under British law.

“We suspect that his own lawyers have given him the same advice, which would explain his failure to file a writ. Two months on, we assume he chickened out'.”

The PAS president also stated that the contents of the Sarawak Report article with regard to the RM90 million allegation had caused serious damage to his reputation in England and Wales, and also in Singapore and Malaysia.

“In those jurisdictions, both individually and collectively, he has a substantial reputation to protect,” read the statement.

As for the Aug 6, 2016 Sarawak Report article in dispute titled "As Najib denies all over 1MDB, Let's not forget his many other criminal connections", Hadi listed the paragraphs which he claimed smeared his reputation, which were as follows.

“Are Malaysians to sit an [sic] tolerate a situation where a disgraced thief and liar has succeeded in driving the opposition leader into jail in a case he masterminded himself from start to finish?

“Najib has worked to exploit the leaderless situation confronting the opposition ever since and BN/Umno smugly talk of divisions faced by the party they deliberately decapitated. He has gone on to 'woo' the PAS Islamic party away from the opposition coalition in the normal way he woos - RM90 million is widely reckoned to have flowed into the top echelons of PAS in recent months (BN veterans would tell them they came cheap).

“To sugar matters further for PAS, Najib has gone on a crusade to show himself 'more holy than thou' on every PAS religious agenda, stirring up extremism in Malaysia and undermining civil law and institutions without turning a single hair over the destabilising, divisive and dangerous consequences to his country and his own party. He thinks it's clever. If a man has no charisma to attract his followers he buys them, whatever it takes.

“With (DAP leader Lim) Guan Eng in jail alongside Anwar (Ibrahim), PAS on the pay-roll, all his critics sacked and his emergency powers in place, Najib plainly reckons he can pull off another 'election win'.”

Hadi said in their natural and ordinary meaning the words complained off “mean and were understood” to mean that the claimant (Hadi) had personally accepted or procured or approved the acceptance by PAS of a massive bribe from Najib in exchange for compromising PAS' political independence with the effect of subverting or undermining the political opposition coalition, thereby accepting a place for PAS on the corrupt payroll of Najib and disgracefully undermining the democratic process.

Reputation seriously damaged

In his statement, Hadi also listed several indicative examples of how his reputation had been seriously damaged in England and Wales:

1. Dr Wan Ahmad Hilfi Wan Ahmad Junaidi, a GP of Malaysian origin who has lived in England for around 10 years, has been spoken to about the allegations published by the defendant by many people, including work colleagues and friends and university students, and at a variety of events including Malaysian festival gatherings. At one of those festivals, Dr Wan heard someone refer to PAS as the "90 million party" and allege that PAS had a "back door relationship" with Najib's ruling party.
    
2. Jupri Bade is an engineer of Malaysian origin who has been living in the UK for 18 years. He has been questioned by a number of friends about whether it was true whether PAS had taken money as alleged in the words complained of.
    
3. Dr Nurul Aini Annuar is an NHS doctor specialising in sexual health and has worked in the UK for eight years. She first read the article after seeing it being discussed online and following links to it. Several people in the UK have raised the content of the article with her.
    
4. Dr Badrul Hisham Esa is a GP who has lived in the UK since he came here to study in 1992. A number of individuals have raised the allegations complained of with him and have expressed concern about them.
    
5. Aizuddinur Zakaria is an accountant from Malaysia who has lived in the UK since early 2014. Several people from the Malaysian community in the UK have raised and discussed the allegations complained of with him, both online and face-to-face.
    
6. Raja Petra bin Raja Kamarudin is a blogger, writer and political analyst who writes on the political situation in Malaysia. He lives in Manchester and has been resident in the UK since 2009. He is a subscriber to notifications from the website. The article has been raised with him by friends and family from the large Malaysian community in Manchester and also by a number of customers who have attended his son's Malaysian restaurant.

-Mkini