CURRENT / CLARE BROWN FINALLY FILES HER DEFENCE, INCLUDES A COUNTER-CLAIM AND CONFIRMS HER LAWYERS WERE CHANGED

AFTER a lull, Clare Rewcastle Brown finally managed to file her defence in the case of Hadi Awang v. Clare Brown. For added effect, she even included a counter-claim although suspiciously, she is completely mum about it. 

Certainly a strange change in attitude coming from the 'Mother of all Sensational News' herself - to whom commenting sub judice is a daily thing, in fact an oft-deployed battle tactic.

"She would only stand to get costs if Hadi is unable to prove his case. Clare has gone another step to file an action against the PAS leader." 

– SN Nair,  

We are very curious as to the value of the counter-claim that Ms Brown filed, and certainly she should share this information with everyone, if it is so justifiable. 

Interestingly, it seems as if the prospect of simply winning at cost isn't enough for Clare, and she will attempt to fleece as much money as she is able, given the chance - as evidenced in this latest development.

It could also mean that Clare is hoping to deter Hadi from proceeding with the case with the threat of an (presumably huge) undisclosed sum as counter-claimed by Ms Brown.

Or both. Until more information trickles out, you get to decide for now.

Another interesting fact that we can glean from this development is the fact that she in fact did change her "horses mid-stream" as alleged by blogger Raggy Jessy a.k.a. The Third Force previously. There is somehow a silent admission on the fact that she changed her lawyers although she was also atypically mum about that whole question. 

So much for transparency.

– The NINE QUESTIONS Panel

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2. SARAWAK REPORT EDITOR FILES DEFENCE AGAINST HADI

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CLARE FILES DEFENCE, COUNTER-CLAIM AGAINST HADI

Sarawak Report ran the article in which it claimed RM90 million was “reckoned” to have entered the accounts of top PAS leaders to woo them into supporting Umno and Barisan Nasional.

REPORTED BY FREE MALAYSIA TODAY

Photo: FMT 

PETALING JAYA, OCTOBER 12, 2017 –

Clare Rewcastle Brown has filed her defence in response to PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang’s defamation suit against the editor of the whistleblower website, Sarawak Report. 

She also revealed that a counter-claim had been filed against Hadi. 

“The defence and counterclaim were filed in the UK High Court this afternoon,” she told FMT in an e-mail. 

Clare, who did not provide details, said the filing includes a summary of the lengthy full document.

Last week, in updating FMT on the suit, Clare said she would file her defence very soon. 

Meanwhile, lawyer SN Nair said Clare would stand to obtain costs and damages if the court dismissed Hadi’s suit and allowed the counterclaim (fresh suit). 

“She would only stand to get costs if Hadi is unable to prove his case.  

“Clare has gone another step to file an action against the PAS leader,” he said. 

On August 2, the court rejected Clare’s application to demand that Hadi deposit a higher security to meet the expected costs before the start of his suit. 

The court also ordered her to file her defence by August 30. 

However, Clare was given more time after she appointed a new lawyer.
The Islamist party leader was only ordered to place RM80,000 as security, in the event he lost the case against Clare. 

The suit, filed at the London High Court in April, was related to an article she wrote in August 2016. 

Sarawak Report ran the article in which it claimed RM90 million was “reckoned” to have entered the accounts of top PAS leaders to woo them into supporting Umno and Barisan Nasional.

('Clare Files Defence, Counter-Claim Against Hadi.' – Free Malaysia Today, October 12, 2017)

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1. CLARE FILES DEFENCE, COUNTER-CLAIM AGAINST HADI

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SARAWAK REPORT EDITOR FILES DEFENCE AGAINST HADI

The court did not accept her argument that she would not be able to bring a legal suit against Hadi in Malaysia, where the “judiciary, government and the prime minister are corrupted and are complicit with him”.

REPORTED BY THE MALAYSIAN INSIGHT

PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang is suing Clare Rewcastle Brown, who is questioning the source of funding for the suit, yet refuses to say whether she will return the money she collected in donations and other sources in the case that she loses.
Photo: The Malaysian Insight 

OCTOBER 12, 2017 – 

SARAWAK Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown has filed her defence in the United Kingdom High Court against PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang’s defamation suit, reports Free Malaysia Today. 

Rewcastle-Brown told the portal that the defence and a counter-claim were filed against Hadi yesterday. 

She, however, did not divulge details of the suit only saying the filing includes a summary of the lengthy full document. 

Hadi sued the London-based journalist over an article which appeared on the whistle-blower site last August alleging that he received RM90 million in bribes from Prime Minister Najib Razak in return for support. 

Lawyer S.N. Nair said Rewcastle-Brown would stand to receive costs and damages if the court dismissed Hadi’s suit and allowed the counter-claim (fresh suit). 

“She would only stand to get costs if Hadi is unable to prove his case. 

“Clare has gone another step to file an action against the PAS leader,” he was quoted as saying. 

The Malaysian Insight reported that Rewcastle-Brown had asked who was funding Hadi’s suit as such cases are expensive in the UK. 

She said Hadi’s lawyer in the UK has so far refused to reveal details of who was funding the suit. 

“Nor have they explained why their client is suing in London and not in KL (Kuala Lumpur), where more than a handful of people have at least heard of Hadi Awang.” 

She said in August Hadi should reveal if he or his party is footing the bill, which was estimated at £100,000 (RM600,000).  

She also attempted to make the court force Hadi to pay a deposit as security, should he lose the defamation suit. 

The court decided that Rewcastle-Brown should pay Hadi £15,000 (RM83,700), or two-thirds of the cost of her application, with the quantum of the balance to be assessed by the court in due course. 

The court did not accept her argument that she would not be able to bring a legal suit against Hadi in Malaysia, where the “judiciary, government and the prime minister are corrupted and are complicit with him”. 

Hadi offered to pay a RM80,000 deposit, which the court accepted.

('Sarawak Report Editor Files Defence Against Hadi.' – The Malaysian Insight, October 12, 2017)

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The NINE QUESTIONS Blog will return with more facts.

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FOCUS / REVISITING HADI AWANG'S COURTROOM VICTORY AGAINST THE MIGHTY DAILY MIRROR; HADI IS CURRENTLY SUING CLARE REWCASTLE BROWN AND SARAWAK REPORT

MANY commenters had forgotten that YB Abdul Hadi Awang, MP is no stranger to the British legal system, and in fact have had a successful outing in the UK, using the same lawyer he is currently retaining. 

A good general always knows to stick to the same dark horse that wins the race, and YB Abdul Hadi Awang is looking ever the confident commander after winning his case in 2007.

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2. RELATED: ABDUL HADI AWANG - AN APOLOGY

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LEADING MALAYSIAN POLITICIAN WINS LIBEL COMPLAINT AGAINST DAILY MIRROR OVER FALSE TERRORISM ALLEGATIONS

The Defendant has explained that the photograph was published in error by the newspaper, and that it was intended to refer to a completely different person, the suspected Al-Qaeda terrorist Mr Abdul Hadi Al Iraqi. Mr Hadi Awang has no connection whatsoever with that person. The article has caused Mr Hadi Awang great embarrassment and distress.

CARTER-RUCK PRESS RELEASE

19 October 2007 

The Daily Mirror today apologised in the High Court to Mr Abdul Hadi Awang, a well-known Malaysian politician and an eminent Muslim scholar, over false allegations that he was, among other things, the Al Qaeda “number 3” and that he was being held in Guantanamo Bay.

FOCUS / EVEN RJ/TTF IS RAISING THE ISSUE OF DONATIONS MADE TO CLARE REWCASTLE BROWN'S COURT BATTLE AND ITS MORAL CONTRADICTION

THE NINE QUESTIONS Panel is again reiterating that Clare Rewcastle Brown/Sarawak Report should return the money collected from the public in the event that she and her dungheap of a publication loses the case against her in London. 

She should be made to pay for whatever it is that she should be responsible for and not extract the responsibility from the public's goodwill. 

Goodwill which, in the highly likely event that she loses, will dissipate faster than one can say, 'FRAUD!'.

– The NINE QUESTIONS Panel

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2. RELATED: IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE, QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION, CLAIM NO. HQ17M01386
3. RELATED: CLARE REWCASTLE BROWN'S INABILITY TO SHOW PROOF TO COURT BRINGS INTO QUESTION SHOULD SHE RETURN THE MONEY COLLECTED TO DEFEND HER CASE

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CLARE REWCASTLE'S DONORS ACTUALLY GIVING HADI MONEY
Pakatuns are going to keep enriching Hadi and his lawyers, as Ms. Rewcastle is bent on delaying the trial past the 14^th general election (GE14) just to prevent Malaysians from discovering what I have been saying all this while – that all the evidences she claims to possess are nothing short of fabrications wrapped around conjectures and hearsay, none of which are substantiated, none of which hold in the court of law.

REPORTED BY RAGGIE JESSY/THE THIRD FORCE

Clare Rewcastle Brown has taken you guys for a jolly good ride.

Last Thursday, the disgraced British journalist failed to secure an extension from a London Court in a defamation suit brought against her by PAS president Dato’ Seri Abdul Hadi Awang. The suit pertains allegations that Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Razak solicited political favours from Hadi by bribing the latter RM90 million.

The court’s decision followed Ms. Rewcastle’s repeated failure to file and serve her defense right up to the 30^th of August 2017, a deadline stipulated within a court order dated the 2^nd of August 2017 (see #2 below). Ironically, this is the same lady who spent close to two years telling Malaysians that she had truckloads of “smoking gun evidences” to prove the Prime Minister of Malaysia was corrupt and criminally perverse.

But the evidence has yet to surface. 

FOCUS / CLARE REWCASTLE BROWN'S INABILITY TO SHOW PROOF TO COURT BRINGS INTO QUESTION SHOULD SHE RETURN THE MONEY COLLECTED TO DEFEND HER CASE

Sarawak Report's Clare Rewcastle Brown had famously collected £33, 513 to fund her defence in the London High Court. 

The legal suit initiated by PAS President YB Abdul Hadi Awang is revealing that Clare is having problems providing the necessary evidence to back her allegations, famously regaled through her aforementioned notoriously fake news mouthpiece. 

With this latest development in light, let's revisit what was written by Sarawak Report in order to solicit money through the portal Crowd Justice, and the NINE QUESTIONS Blog will let the readers decide whether such monies were well-spent, justified and whether those monies should be returned to the donors should Clare Rewcastle Brown be found guilty.

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DEFEND SARAWAK REPORT

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Sarawak Report is being sued by PAS, the Islamic Party of Malaysia. We believe we have a strong case and need to stand up to the big money that appears to be flowing into their action.

BY SARAWAK REPORT

For the past seven years Sarawak Report has detailed the consequences of politcal (sic) corruption in Malaysia on the environment, civil liberties and the prosperity of the nation.  We have worked on this project as a voluntary not for profit commitment.   

It was our work that exposed what has become the world's largest kleptocracy scandal, involving up to $7 billion dollars stolen from the development fund 1MDB. 

Numerous banks have been already held to account and 15th June the US Dept of Justice issued a third court order for the sequestration of over $1.5 billion in assets bought with money stolen by 1MDB.   

The Prime Minister of Malaysia, Najib Razak, has admitted he used much of this money to buy political support and to win the last election - although he claims that the $681 million that went into his own accounts came from a mystery Saudi Royal donor and not 1MDB as detailed by the joint US, Swiss, Singapore, Abu Dhabi, UK, Hong Kong and Luxembourg investigations into the scandal.Sarawak Report has led on this massive international scandal all the way, revealing story after story both on the crime itself and the distribution of all the proceeds.   

There have been numerous legal threats by various players, but so far none have sued us in the face of overwhelming evidence. [{SR} didn’t {respond to the letters} because the extremely recalcitrant and preponderant Ms. Rewcastle ignored the letters and told the judge that she received dozens of such letters, none of which ended in court battles. Earlier today, she asked the judge to grant her an extension to submit her case against Hadi but it was refused." – The Third Force] However,  Malaysia's Islamic party PAS has now taken exception to being caught up in the scandal, having broken with the opposition alliance in order to collaborate with the Prime Minister's own BN alliance at the very height of the exposures of theft from the development fund. 

Sarawak Report pointed out that the PM distributes money to gain political support and that considerable largesse was noted to have been passing from his administration for the first time into PAS during this very period of intense scandal, at which point a section of the leadership chose to rupture its links with the opposition and later work with Najib instead - splitting the party's own leadership and following in the process. PAS's President Hadi has said he views our comments as a personal attack on his reputation in the UK, yet he is seeking to avoid placing security of costs in the UK court before we file our defence. 

This forces us to pay for expensive legal support to file that defence, money we have little hope of retrieving, whether or not he continues with his case. We believe this is a politically motivated attack and that the people involved are hoping we will settle the action rather than place a defence.  They will then use that outcome, backed by BN's powerful propaganda machine to seek to discredit us.  Please help us fight this case in order to counter this the latest of so many attempts to discredit our work.

('Defend Sarawak Report.' – June 2017)

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One more question: Is this type of donation taxable, and were there any declarations made to honour it by Clare Rewcastle Brown?

– The NINE QUESTIONS Panel

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The NINE QUESTIONS Blog will return with more facts.

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CURRENT / PAS AND KHALID IBRAHIM SATISFIED WITH ARUL KANDA'S EXPLANATION ON 1MDB RATIONALISATION, PAKATAN HIVE OF SPIN DOCTORS SET AFRENZY

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2. RELATED: 1MDB RATIONALISATION GOING SMOOTHLY: KHALID

3. RELATED: TAN SRI KHALID IBRAHIM ON THE 1MDB RATIONALISATION AND RESTRUCTURING EXERCISE

4. RELATED: NAJIB PRAISES PAS' ACCEPTANCE OF 1MDB EXPLANATION, EYES 'CHANGE' IN STATE

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PAS SATISFIED WITH 1MDB EXPLANATION BY ARUL KANDA

1MDB was thrust into the limelight recently when a US$602.72 million (RM2.58 billion) payment, which was part of its settlement agreement with Abu Dhabi's International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC), was delayed.

REPORTED BY NEW STRAITS TIMES

KUALA LUMPUR, AUGUST 7, 2017 –

PAS has given the thumbs-up to 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) chief executive officer Arul Kanda Kandasamy after a meeting with him today.

PAS deputy president Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man was reported by online news portals as saying that Arul Kanda’s explanation on the debt incurred by 1MDB and its debt rationalisation plan was “satisfactory.”

Arul Kanda, who was one of the guests at a PAS roundtable discussion on 1MDB held in Ampang, spoke for more than two hours to Tuan Ibrahim and members of the Pas central working committee.

Also present were former Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, and several academicians from public universities.

FOCUS / HADI VS. CLARE ROUND 1: H=1; C=0

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2. RELATED: CLARE GAGAL KES PRA-PERBICARAAN, MAHKAMAH LONDON YAKINI SISTEM KEHAKIMAN MALAYSIA

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UK COURT RULES NO EVIDENCE THAT NAJIB AND MALAYSIAN JUDICIARY ARE CORRUPT

“Malaysians can now rest assured that Sarawak Report is nothing but a fake news portal that fabricated email transcripts, shopping receipts, banking documents, money trails and what have you, none of which were authentic, none of which would hold in the court of law.”

REPORTED BY THE THIRD FORCE

Last Wednesday, the 2nd of August 2017, a group of British lawyers representing PAS President Dato’ Seri Abdul Hadi Awang attended a Case Management hearing in London. The hearing was to decide the amount Hadi needed to deposit as security with the court in relation to a civil suit he is bringing against Clare Rewcastle Brown, the Chief Editor of Sarawak Report. 

The suit pertains allegations by Sarawak Report that the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Razak, bribed the PAS president with RM90 million, money that Ms. Rewcastle claims originated from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). To date, she has yet to furnish the court with evidence to substantiate her claims despite being given ample time to do so. 

Yet, she asked the judge to fix £800,000 (about RM4.5 million) as the security Hadi needed to deposit with the court. The PAS president, on the other hand, offered to pay just RM80,000, arguing that the sum was “sufficient and uncontroversial.” Not only did the court accept Hadi’s offer, it ruled that Ms. Rewcastle herself needed to pay costs worth 15,000 pounds (about RM85,000) immediately and the balance upon assessment of the total cost.

BREAKING / CLARE BROWN GREEDILY EATS HER FOOT AT LONDON COURT; LOSES CASE MANAGEMENT HEARING AGAINST HADI

The NINE QUESTIONS Panel asks whether Clare Brown will be returning the over £30,000 in 'donations' collected for her legal fees, now determined to be much less than the wild figure of £800,000 she cunningly came up with, perhaps to garner more sympathy for her bogus cause - a conclusion seemingly shared by the courts in London despite CRB's desperately incessant protestations to the contrary. 

Although the possibility that she would be needing a whole lot more than the current amount is tantalisingly within the horizon - and well deserved should the courts find against her. Which should lead the donors to kick themselves in the head for having parted with any sum to defend a person who would then have been proven the liar. 

– The NINE QUESTIONS Panel

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2. RELATED:  CLARE LOST PRE-TRIAL CASE AS LONDON COURT TRUSTS MALAYSIAN SYSTEM

3. RELATED: LONDON COURTS ACCEPT HADI'S OFFER IN SUIT AGAINST SR EDITOR

4. RELATED: PERKEMBANGAN POSITIF KES SAMAN SARAWAK REPORT DI LONDON

5. RELATED: WHO'S FOOTING THE BILL FOR HADI'S COSTLY UK SUIT, ASKS REWCASTLE-BROWN
6. RELATED: SARAWAK REPORT REACHES GBP£30,000 LEGAL FUND GOAL

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LONDON COURT FAVOURS HADI IN CASE MANAGEMENT IN SUIT AGAINST CLARE REWCASTLE-BROWN

“This [deposit] is in the event he (Hadi) was to lose the case and would have to pay Rewcastle-Brown’s legal costs, which she estimates to be around £800,000 (RM4.5 million) in total for the whole hearing till completion.”

REPORTED BY NEW STRAITS TIMES

KUALA LUMPUR, AUGUST 5, 2017 –

Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang’s case management involving his civil suit against Sarawak Report founder and editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown, favoured on behalf of the PAS president. 

The Case management took place at the Courts in London, United Kingdom on August 2. 

In a statement, Hadi’s political secretary Dr Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar said the case management arose after Rewcastle-Brown applied to the court for the Marang member of parliament to deposit monies with the court as a security for legal costs involving the parties court proceedings.

BREAKING / SR V RPK: RPK CONCEDES TO SR; CLARE'S FANS CHEER

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2. RELATED: CLARE REWCASTLE BROWN

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RAJA PETRA'S BLOG RETRACTS ANTI-CLARE ARTICLE, EXPRESSES REGRET

REPORTED BY MALAYSIAKINI

Malaysia-Today.net, a blog owned by blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin, has retracted an article discrediting Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown, who had written extensively about the multi-billion ringgit deposits received by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and 1MDB.

The article, titled 'A Record of Untrue Stories - The Case of Clare Rewcastle', also carried a picture of Rewcastle-Brown with the caption, 'A fraudulent journalist'.

In Malaysia Today's statement of regret published on its website yesterday, the portal noted that the article made a number of allegations against Rewcastle-Brown, who had complained that they were untrue.

"We did not write the article and were not involved in its writing and we do not have any relationship with its authors.