KTMB boss Rameli Musa was the mediator between Clare Rewcastle-Brown and PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang, and even offered to pay the Sarawak Report editor’s legal fees in cash, said lawyer Americk Sidhu.
Americk, who acted for Rewcastle-Brown, told The Malaysian Insight that the out-of-court settlement was a culmination of months of negotiations involving Hadi, the Sarawak Report editor and Rameli, as the mediator.
“Rameli was here (in my office in Kuala Lumpur) on behalf of Hadi. There’s no doubt because negotiations were going on for a few months between him and Clare and Hadi. This was the culmination of the negotiations. He was here to find out how to pay the money,” Americk said.
“When I said I couldn’t accept cash, he (Rameli) proceeded to write his own cheque. He post-dated the cheque for the simple reason that he had to collect the cash from Hadi to put into his account.”
PAS has denied paying any money to Rewcastle-Brown to settle the suit, which was filed by Hadi following a publication of a report that alleged PAS had received RM90 million from Umno before the last general election.
The money allegedly came from state fund 1Malaysian Development Bhd.
PKR president Anwar Ibrahim was the first to reveal that PAS had paid Rewcastle-Brown RM1.42 million to settle the defamation suit.
After PAS had issued denials about the RM1.42, Rewcastle-Brown confirmed that money was paid to cover her legal fees.
PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli then named Rameli as the mediator who provided a bank account to transfer the payment.
“The first suggestion made was that they (PAS) wanted to pay in cash,” said Americk.
“My reaction to that was simply, ‘Look. I cannot be seen to be putting cash of that magnitude into my client’s account because that would trigger a lot of alarm bells as far as money laundering (law) is concerned’.
“So I said, “No, I can’t accept the cash, I’m sorry.’ So there was a cash offer first,” he said.
“It’s when I refused to accept cash, was when the mediator (Rameli) proceeded to write out his personal cheque.”
Rewcastle-Brown subsequently instructed Americk to transfer the funds to her London bank account.
The suit, filed at the London High Court in 2017, involved the allegation that Hadi and other PAS leaders received RM90 million to support Umno and Barisan Nasional ahead of the 14th general election.
A settlement was reached without any order to costs on February 1.
Following claims by PAS that no payment was made, Rewcastle-Brown posted a article on Sarawak Report, with a picture of a Bank Islam cheque, claiming she was paid RM1,422,980 as part of a settlement that allowed Hadi to withdraw from his case with an agreement that both parties keep the payment confidential.
When asked how the negotiations went, Americk said: “I have no idea. I didn’t ask the question. I wasn’t privy to the negotiations before that. I was only instructed to accept the money, place it in my client’s account and send the money to Clare in London. That’s what I was appointed for. But apparently there were negotiations for quite some time.”
Americk said he does not think there would be legal fallout between PAS and Rewcastle-Brown for speaking freely about the payment despite the confidentiality clause in the settlement.
“According to my client, the violation of the confidentiality of this entire matter was precipitated by Takiyuddin,” Americk said, referring to PAS secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan, who had publically denied any payment made to Rewcastle-Brown.
“And he came out and said he had documentary proof no money was paid, which was absolutely wrong.
“I think that was what triggered it. My client felt she was not bound any longer because Takiyuddin was telling lies.”
Americk expressed regret that Rameli was named in the political crossfire.
“It’s very unfortunate that the identity of the intermediary has been released by Rafizi because in all my dealings with him (Rameli), I was under the impression that he’s an absolute gentleman – in the sense that his main task here was to resolve the issue between the two parties.
“So, it’s unfortunate that his name was revealed but there’s nothing that can be done about that because we didn’t reveal it. So, that’s the fundamental issue here. It’s very difficult for me to make any comments because it’s not my intention to reveal who put this whole deal together.”
Rameli, who was appointed KTMB chairman in February, was former vice-chairman of Ingress Corp Bhd and former chairman of Balfour Beatty Rail.
Rameli was also a member of the board of directors of the Kelantan State Economic Development Corporation for several years when Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat was menteri besar.
THE MALAYSIAN INSIGHT
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