Terengganu Sultanah to proceed with defamation suit against Sarawak Report editor

Clare Rewcastle Brown. -AFPpic

PETALING JAYA: Terengganu Sultanah Nur Zahirah will continue with a defamation suit against Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle Brown, even though the latter "apologised" for a passage about the royal member in a book about the 1MDB scandal.

Lawyer Datuk Mohd Haaziq Pillay Abdullah said the Sultanah saw the statement posted on Sarawak Report and did not consider it to be an apology.

"My instructions are to proceed further. This is not the terms of the apology," he told The Star Online on Friday (Sep 28).

Haziq did not want to say further, except that more details will be highlighted at a press conference on Saturday (Sep 29) about the requirements of the Terengganu royal family.

Sarawak Report had on Thursday (Sep 27) posted a statement on their website, saying they apologised to Sultanah Nur Zahirah if any misinterpretations in a passage of its book on the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal upset her.

The whistleblower site clarified that it did not suggest that the Sultanah of Terengganu conspired with businessman Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low, or was involved in the state government's administration over the 1MDB affair.

It also said it did not suggest that she was linked to the Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA) or the 1MDB board in any way.

"We are sorry if she has been upset by any misinterpretations of our meaning and trust this clarifies the matter," said the statement.

The Sarawak Report: The Inside Story of the 1MDB Expose tells the story behind the investigations into the 1MDB scandal and was officially launched on Sept 8.

1MDB started as TIA, a sovereign wealth fund set up in 2008, aimed at spurring sustainable socio-economic development in Terengganu for the long term. A year later, it was renamed 1MDB.