KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 2 — Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown said today she is satisfied with the outcome of the out-of-court settlement with PAS since it did not require the article at the centre of the RM90 million to be altered or removed.
The former BBC journalist told news portal Malaysiakini that she “stood her ground” down despite what she claimed was PAS’ attempt at “legal bullying” to “silence and discredit” her in the run up to the 14th general election.
“I want to thank all the people who supported me in standing up to this attempt at legal bullying by PAS,” she was quoted as saying.
“I stood my ground and the article remains online and unaltered, despite the attempts to silence and discredit me before the last election.”
PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang opted for an out of court settlement in his defamation suit against the Sarawak Report editor, his political secretary Syahir Sulaiman announced in a statement issued earlier today.
Syahir said the matter was decided after studying “all aspects” of the court action that was filed against Rewcastle-Brown apart from considering the advice of his counsel.
The Sarawak Report editor, the first to expose the 1MDB scandal, claimed in an article dated August 6, 2016 that Najib in an attempt to court PAS ahead of the May 9 general election had gifted RM90 million into the accounts of its top leaders.
That led the civil suit, which was filed at the London High Court.
Rewcastle-Brown told Malaysiakini she saw the settlement as a “total victory and vindication”.
Both sides are not allowed to reveal the terms of the settlement, but the Sarawak Report editor said she would have preferred for the court action to proceed.
“I could not be more satisfied with this outcome, although it would have been good to have seen them all in court,” she was quoted as saying.
The article can still be found on Sarawak Report’s website.
