Hadi Awang sues Sarawak Report editor

(The Sun Daily) – PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang has filed a defamation suit against Sarawak Report editor and founder Clare Rewcastle Brown for alleging that he had received money from the government.

Party secretary-general Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan said the suit was filed at the London High Court on April 21.

He added Abdul Hadi was seeking for damages and an injunction order from the court, in relation to an article published by Sarawak Report on Aug 6 last year titled “As Najib denies all over 1MDB, let’s not forget his many other criminal connections”.

Takiyuddin said the article had suggested that Abdul Hadi had personally received a big amount of bribe from Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak as an exchange to compromise PAS’ political stand.

“All of the allegations were not true at all. The allegations of corruption has clearly destroyed and affected the reputation of the PAS president …,” he said in a statement.

Takiyuddin said Abdul Hadi had appointed a London-based legal firm, Carter-Nick, to submit a letter of complaint to Rewcastle at the end of last year.

He added the letter had demanded for Rewcastle to remove or delete the article and publish an apology to Abdul Hadi.

“However, Miss Rewcastle Brown has failed to provide a response to the complaint and made several public statements that had complicated the situation,” he said.

Takiyuddin said the suit need to be made as the article had affected his reputation in Malaysia and Singapore, as well as in England and Wales.

“Taking into consideration the heavy accusation, the PAS president will not let it go unchallenged and has no choice but to initiate legal proceedings,” he said.