PAS’ Abdul Hadi Awang’s decision to retract his defamation suit against Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown shows there has been a long cooperation between Umno and PAS, although the Islamist party has been denying it for years, said Khalid Samad.  

The Amanah communications director said Hadi had no choice but to settle the matter out of court because he felt his case was not strong enough.

“His decision to retract the defamation suit shows that his case against Sarawak Report is not strong enough. It also shows that PAS and Umno has been working together for quite some time, even though they’ve denied it. Now the cooperation is being praised.

“When we decided to leave PAS, we said that Umno and PAS were working together. They accused us of slander, but now it is crystal clear.

“I was also informed that a voice recording of Nik Abduh (Nik Abdul Aziz) admitting that PAS received money from Umno was genuine.

“Everything has been proven, so it is not surprising in the end that they felt their case was not strong enough to continue with,” he said today at a press conference.

Khalid said that Pakatan Harapan was not worried about the cooperation, but must now work hard to serve the people.

In his statement yesterday, Hadi offered to settle his defamation suit with the Sarawak Report editor via undisclosed settlement terms.

Hadi finalised the out-of-court settlement via a consent order dated February 1 at the London High Court of Justice, according to his political secretary Syahir Sulaiman.

Hadi also consented to withdraw his claims against Rewcastle-Brown as the defendant was said to have similarly withdrawn her counterclaims. No order was made as to costs.

Syahrir added that both parties are bound by a confidentiality agreement on the terms of the settlement.  

Rewcastle-Brown expressed her happiness after Hadi’s offer yesterday.

The editor said she is “very happy” with the undisclosed settlement terms, with the “offending article” still available online and unchanged.

“I have not backed down,” she told The Malaysian Insight via WhatsApp yesterday.

“I am vindicated entirely. I stood my ground thanks to the support of many people who helped me stand up to the attempt at legal bullying to silence my reporting.

“The article remains online and unchanged, although I have agreed not to discuss the terms of the settlement,” she said of the article “As Najib denies all over 1MDB, let’s not forget his many other criminal connections”, published on August 6, 2016 and sued over by Hadi.

The article suggested that money was given in exchange for PAS’ support for Barisan Nasional and that former prime minister Najib Razak wooed PAS away from the opposition by funnelling RM90 million to the top echelons of the Islamist party.

Rewcastle-Brown said in October 2017 that lawyer Ambiga Sreenevasan was her source of information and that she published parts of her conversation with Ambiga in good faith as a political commentary on a matter of public interest. Ambiga had declined to comment.

Last month, PAS sought to raise RM400,000, in addition to the RM2.5 million it spent on the suit. – February 3, 2019.