THE Sarawak Report editor and founder Clare Rewcastle-Brown says she had no intention of tarnishing the Terengganu sultanah’s reputation in her recently published book on the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal.

Rewcastle-Brown said she had made it clear in her book The Sarawak Report: The Inside Story of the 1MDB Expose, that Sultanah Nur Zahirah was not involved in the fiasco.

“I have tried to clarify and I have made it clear in my book that the sultanah was not involved in 1MDB. In the report lodged against me, it was said that I had said that the wife of the Sultan of Terengganu was in the TIA (Terengganu Investment Authority).

“That is a mistaken understanding. What I said was clear, the grammar was clear that the sultan was involved in TIA and he was the husband of the sultanah.

“The report against me was that I had said that the sultanah was involved. I never said that in my book. In fact in my book, I made it clear that TIA ceased to exist before the scandal began and it was changed to 1MDB,” she told reporters today after giving her statement to the police at Bukit Aman.

She added that she also mentioned in her book that one of the reasons that TIA ceased to exist was because the sultan, who was the chairman of TIA, was concerned with the way businessman Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low, was handling the fund.

Earlier this week, the sultanah filed a defamation action against Rewcastle-Brown for defaming her in the book on the 1MDB issue. The sultanah named Rewcastle Brown, her book publisher Gerakbudaya Enterprise and printer Vinlin Press Sdn Bhd as the defendants.

Earlier today, Deputy Inspector-General of Police Noor Rashid Ibrahim confirmed that police were questioning the Sarawak-born Rewcastle-Brown.

She said today police were still investigating three outstanding cases against her that were lodged during the previous Barisan Nasional administration.

On September 29, Sultanah Nur Zahirah, through her counsel, gave Rewcastle-Brown eight days to issue a “full written, unequivocal public retraction” of a passage in her book about the 1MDB scandal or face a RM100 million defamation suit.

A letter of demand was served to parties to make a public retraction and apology in terms to be approved by her lawyers by October 5.

A day earlier, Sarawak Report had apologised if the book had led to any misinterpretation on the sultanah’s part that it suggested that she was conspiring with Jho Low, or was involved in the government administration in the 1MDB scandal.

Rewcastle-Brown also clarified that her book did not suggest the sultanah was linked to TIA or the 1MDB board in any way. – November 23, 2018.