PAS has an “80% chance” of winning its defamation suit against whistle-blower site Sarawak Report, said its president, Abdul Hadi Awang, as the trial begins tomorrow.

The party’s chances were communicated by its lawyer in the United Kingdom, who is handling the case, Hadi said after the ceramah in Bingai Rendah in Marang last night.

“Our chances of winning are 80%. That’s what our lawyer told us,” said Hadi. The suit alleges that Sarawak Report had defamed the party by claiming it received a RM90 million donation.

The amount to be paid out should PAS win, he said, will be determined by the UK High Court.

Earlier reports said PAS is claiming damages from the website’s editor Claire Rewcastle-Brown in its suit filed in April 2017.

In August 2016, Sarawak Report alleged that Hadi received RM90 million in bribes from caretaker prime minister Najib Razak in return for the former’s support.  >

In his speech earlier, Hadi said the lawyer had in the past represented him when a UK paper accused him of being a terrorist.

“In that case also, he represented me and we won about RM40,000 from the paper. But the money has long been spent as it was an old case.”

Hadi is represented by legal firm Carter-Ruck and barrister Jacob Dean in London.

In the ceramah, Hadi said it was preposterous that Umno would give PAS money given that the Malay supremacist party is its rival.

“We have a million members and thousands of branches all over the country. Every time we have a ceramah, we collect donations and we can collect RM4,000 sometimes RM5,000 per night. We also have many religious kindergartens.” – April 29, 2018.