PAS president sues Sarawak Report editor in London court

ALOR SETAR: PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang has filed a defamation suit against Claire Rewcastle Brown for suggesting that he received a bribe from the Government.  

Abdul Hadi filed the suit in a London court on April 21, seeking damages and an injunction order over an article published on the Sarawak Report website in August last year.

The article alleged that the PAS president personally received a large sum of cash from Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in exchange for the Islamist party to compromise on its political stand on certain issues.

PAS secretary-general Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan told reporters on the sidelines of the party wings' assemblies on Thursday that the allegations were completely false.

"Such allegations and claims of corruption are completely untrue, and clearly seeks to damage the reputation of someone like the PAS president," Takiyuddin said.

The defamation suit was filed following a letter of complaint which Abdul Hadi sent to Rewcastle Brown at the end of last year demanding a retraction and public apology over the article. 

"Miss Rewcastle Brown however failed to respond to the complaint and instead made several public statements that complicated the situation even further," he said . 

Abdul Hadi has appointed London-based legal firm Carter-Ruck to begin legal proceedings against Rewcastle Brown in the London High Court. 

"Seeing as this is a heavy accusation, the PAS president will not let this go unchallenged and has no choice but to initiate legal proceedings to clear his name," Takiyuddin said, adding that they have yet to receive any statement of defense from the Sarawak Report founder.

Earlier when officiating the PAS Youth muktamar here, PAS deputy president Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man announced a special donation drive to raise money for its lawsuit against Sarawak Report.

He said the legal costs for the suit could amount to nearly RM200,000.

"Even though we are not rich, we will make sacrifices to defend the party's honour. For the party's good name, we will proceed," he told delegates.