KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 4 — PAS is fooling no one with its claim that Sarawak Report (SR) could not prove its allegation that the Islamist party leaders took RM90 million from Umno, said Hanipa Maidin.
The deputy minister in charge of legal affairs had handled many of PAS’s legal matters when he had still been with the party, and said he initially did not want to comment on the settlement but he was moved to do so after the party’s recent remarks.
While he did not identify the specific remark, it is believed that he was referring to PAS deputy president Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man’s comments that the SR could not prove the allegation that led Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang to sue in 2017.
“Sorry, but it is trivial to rebut that. Speaking of proof in such cases, evidence must be presented in court via proceedings. How will this be done now (that the case is withdrawn)?
“When there are no proceedings, how will the evidence be presented?” he asked in a statement posted on Facebook today.
Hanipa further mocked the remark by saying that it may be accepted by PAS supporters but will not have much credibility among those who capable of critical thought.
He also reminded PAS that SR previously asserted to the existence of an audio recording purportedly of a party leader admitting to taking the money, which Hadi had not objected to being included in the trial.
Insisting that such a recording was fatal to Hadi’s defamation lawsuit against SR and its editor, Clare Rewcastle-Brown, Hanipa said it was illogical to not challenge the admission if the allegation was indeed false.
“So which is it? That the allegation was unproven or cowardice?” he said before telling PAS that it should continue with the suit if it intended to be boastful about the matter.
On Friday, PAS unexpectedly announced that Hadi had settled his defamation suit against SR and Rewcastle-Brown out of court, with no order to costs and with both bound to confidentiality.
He filed the suit in 2017 over a 2016 article alleging that several PAS leaders received RM90 million in order to covertly support Umno and Barisan Nasional ahead of the 14th general election.
PAS has been mocked over the out-of-court settlement but has insisted that it still obtained a moral victory despite SR continuing to carry the offending article on its website.
Yesterday, former Malaysian Bar president Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan said PAS must explain to those who contributed to the millions raised towards Hadi’s legal cost in the matter.
Ambiga had been tangentially linked to the case after Rewcastle-Brown claimed the former to be the source of her information for the RM90 million claim.
