KUALA LUMPUR: The National Patriot Association (Patriot) today called for an investigation into the claim in a Sarawak Report article that the RM90 million UMNO allegedly paid to PAS leaders could be from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) funds.
Patriot president Datuk Mohamed Arshad Raji asked the police and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to start the investigations and urged anyone who had information on the matter to lodge reports with the authorities.
“Even if no reports are made, the police and the MACC should launch the investigations on their own,” he said in a statement.
Mohamed Arshad said Malaysians wanted to know the truth behind the out-of-court settlement initiated by PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang after he had filed a defamation suit against Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown for alleging in the article that RM90 million had been paid to top PAS leaders to get them to support UMNO.
He said the dropping of the suit did not mean that the case was closed.
“Malaysians demand to know the truth in the case because, although the case will not be adjudicated, (Rewcastle-) Brown’s allegation that RM90 million was paid to PAS leaders remains,” he said.
He also said that there was an audio recording of PAS Central Committee member Nik Mohamad Abduh Nik Abdul Aziz mentioning about receiving RM2 million from UMNO, which was furnished as evidence by Rewcastle-Brown and was not contested by Abdul Hadi.
He said Malaysians wanted to know the truth because the money paid to the PAS leaders allegedly came from 1MDB funds.
Abdul Hadi had filed a defamation suit in the London High Court of Justice after Sarawak Report published the article by Rewcastle-Brown on Aug 6, 2016.
Earlier this month, Abdul Hadi reportedly settled the case out of court and Rewcastle-Brown subsequently withdrew her counterclaims. – Bernama
