THE Terengganu sultanah is expected to file a defamation suit this week against Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown for claiming that she conspired with businessman Low Taek Jho in the multi-billion-dollar 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal.
The suit will also name Gerakbudaya, the publisher for Rewcastle-Brown’s book “The Sarawak Report: The Inside Story of 1MDB Exposé”, as well as printers Vinlin Press, as defendants.
Lawyers representing Sultanah Nur Zahirah intend to file the suit at the Kuala Terengganu High Court.
Letters of demand were served to all three parties, stating the deadline of 5pm today for an apology to be issued. The deadline was extended from earlier this month.
However, the Sultanah’s lead counsel Mohd Haaziq Pillay Abdullah said she had received a “very unreasonable offer of settlement” from the parties.
“The lawyers wrote to us asking us what we wanted, including damages. But they’ve refused (to settle). They are not prepared to give an apology as what we have requested. They are still falling back on to what Clare has said earlier,” he told The Malaysian Insight.
“It looks like the matter would have to be litigated in court.”
The suit focuses on one paragraph on page 3 of Rewcastle-Brown’s book, published on September 8, which alleged that the sultanah was involved in a conspiracy with Low and the previous Barisan Nasional administration in the 1MDB scandal.
The sultanah has denied meeting Low or supporting him in securing an advisory role at Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA), which was later to be rebranded as 1MDB.
She has also denied interfering in government affairs or being involved in TIA or 1MDB.
The sultanah is seeking RM100 million in damages from each party unless they each issue a written apology, an unequivocal public retraction and an undertaking not to repeat the statements.
Rewcastle-Brown said on the whistleblower site last month that she was sorry if the sultanah “has been upset by any misinterpretations of our meaning”.
She said she did not suggest that the sultanah was “in a conspiracy” with Low, better known as Jho Low, or that the sultanah was in any way connected to the TIA.
“We note that the connection between Jho Low and the Terengganu royal family was in fact far closer to the sister of the sultan, with whom Jho was directly connected in a business sense, and her husband,” Rewcastle-Brown said.
The sultanah had shot down that statement as not being an adequate apology.
Haaziq said last month that she was “extremely distressed” and “upset” when she came across the offending passage after which the palace instructed the palace royal comptroller to lodge a police report on September 14.
“These were malicious statements that were not verified,” Haaziq had said. – October 23, 2018.
Lawyers representing Sultanah Nur Zahirah intend to file the suit at the Kuala Terengganu High Court.
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