LAWYER Ambiga Sreenevasan has declined to comment on allegations that she fed whistle-bower site Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown information that the PAS leadership received RM90 million from funds linked to 1MDB.

A day after she was named as a source of information for Rewcastle-Brown, Ambiga responded by saying she was unable to comment on court proceedings in the UK.

“I am afraid, I am not at liberty to discuss proceedings which are ongoing in the UK courts,” the former Bar Council president and Bersih chairman said in a WhatsApp reply to The Malaysian Insight.

According to Rewcaste-Brown’s defence and counter-claim statement provided to The Malaysian Insight yesterday, the UK-based activist said she spoke to Ambiga in July 2016 regarding Najib, 1Malaysia Development Berhad and PAS.

Rewcastle-Brown’s defence was filed in relation to PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang’s defamation suit against her in April this year.

Hadi claimed that he had been defamed in a Sarawak Report article entitled “As Najib denies all over 1MDB let’s not forget his many other criminal connections” published on August 6, 2016.

The article suggested that money was given in exchange for PAS’ support for Barisan Nasional.

Rewcastle-Brown said she published parts of her conversation with Ambiga in good faith as a political commentary on a matter of public interest.

Hadi is seeking an undisclosed amount in damages and an injunction preventing Rewcastle-Brown from repeating the allegations, saying that he had suffered damage to his reputation.

Among other things, the article alleged that Najib wooed PAS away from the opposition by funnelling RM90 million to the top echelon of the Islamist party. – October 31, 2017.