Sarawak Report editor defends Rameli as 'honourable, devout gentleman'

Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown had nothing but praise for KTMB chairperson Rameli Musa (pictured, above), whom she claimed to have paid her RM1.4 million on behalf of PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang.

"I didn’t wish to publicise it, this was a very honourable respectable gentleman, who I think has assisted PAS financially over the years and has been a good patron of Hadi’s for the very best possible reasons.

"I think he is a very devout man, and I think he was very upset by the problems that Hadi had led the party into and he wanted to try and extract PAS from the embarrassing court case that it was in.

"He has been a perfect gentleman, and I’m sorry he had to get dragged into it," Rewcastle-Brown told Malaysiakini last night.

Rewcaslte-Brown had not named Rameli when she first disclosed that an intermediary acting for Hadi had paid her RM1.4 million to enable the PAS president to drop his defamation suit against her.

However, his identity was then revealed by PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli, who had sought to disprove claims by PAS that the account used to pay the settlement money was bogus.

Rameli had been summoned by the MACC to give his statement on the matter on Tuesday, and had provided them with a document.

The transaction occurred in January. Rameli was only promoted to KTMB chairperson in February.

Hadi, however, had denied that either he or PAS had paid off Rewcastle-Brown.

According to Berita Harian, the PAS leader also claimed that "certain quarters" had approached him prior to the 14th general election to settle his suit against the Sarawak Report editor, which he declined at the time.

Rewcastle-Brown said she first met Rameli in Kuala Lumpur while she was gathering background information on PAS.

She said he then contacted her out of the blue sometime last year asking to meet her in London, which she did after Christmas.

"At that meeting, he told me the people around Hadi were desperate for an agreement and he had agreed (to help), perhaps against his better judgement.

"He still had a lot of goodwill towards the party and he felt sorry for Hadi," she said.

However, she said she rejected Hadi's initial offer to pay her GB£100,000 (RM536,064) to drop the suit.

Following this, Rameli had to keep going back and forth between her and Hadi and PAS, until the RM1.4 million amount was reached.

"It was clear that Hadi was being consulted at every turn and the people around him (by Rameli)," she said.

Rewcastle-Brown also claimed it was possible that PAS may not have paid Rameli back for his assistance.

"It's entirely possible and I suspect probable that PAS, having said they would front up the money, didn't and probably didn’t pay him back.

"He did write that check because my lawyer wouldn't accept this offer of a bag of cash from PAS, and so therefore Rameli agreed to sign a post-dated cheque giving himself 10 days to get the money before I cashed that cheque.

"Whether or not PAS fulfilled its obligation and paid Rameli his money back, I don't know, but Rameli as an upright businessperson certainly stood by his cheque," she said.

Hadi had sued Rewcastle-Brown in London over a 2016 Sarawak Report article claiming that then-prime minister Najib Abdul Razak channelled RM90 million to top PAS leaders in a bid for support ahead of the 14th general election.

On Feb 1, the PAS president subsequently agreed to settle the suit with Sarawak Report and keep the conditions confidential.

Najib has denied the allegation, while the MACC is currently investigating the matter. - Mkini