Najib: I never paid RM90 million to Hadi or Pas

KUALA LUMPUR: Former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak stressed that he never paid RM90 million to Pas or its President Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang, as claimed by Sarawak Report.

Najib also defended Pas which has been under attack from various parties following Abdul Hadi’s decision to withdraw the defamation suit against Sarawak Report editor, Clare Rewcastle-Brown.

Najib said the alleged transaction made to gain Pas’ support towards Umno could not be proven by Pakatan Harapan which has been investigating his account since the 14th general election.

“I never paid RM90 million to Abdul Hadi or Pas. Mind you that the authorities under PH have conducted thorough investigations on my and Umno's accounts since the 14th general election, which has been almost nine months.

“If there was any payment from me or Umno, I’m sure PH would take the opportunity to freeze Pas’ or its president’s accounts.

“It’s unfair for Pas to be continuously attacked and slandered on this issue,” he said via his Facebook today.

Yesterday, Abdul Hadi agreed to an out of court settlement for his defamation suit against Rewcastle-Brown.

Both Abdul Hadi and Rewcastle-Brown had consented to withdraw claims and counterclaims respectively, but Rewcastle-Brown was reported as saying that her article which triggered the suit remains online and unchanged.

Following this, Kepong assemblyman Lim Lip Eng questioned whether the claim that Pas had received RM90 million from Najib was true.

Meanwhile, Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) communications director Khalid Abdul Samad said the decision by Abdul Hadi to reach an out of court settlement for his defamation suit against Rewcastle-Brown is proof that Pas was indeed working together with Umno although the party denied it.

Abdul Hadi filed the defamation suit against Rewcastle-Brown over an allegedly defamatory article titled ‘As Najib Denies All Over 1MDB, Let’s Not Forget His Many Other Criminal Connections’ published on Aug 6 last year, which plaintiff had claimed as being false.

The article purportedly alleges that Abdul Hadi had received bribes from Najib to the tune of RM90 million, to get Pas to support Umno and Barisan Nasional.

On May 1 last year, lawyer representing Pas, Wan Rohimi Wan Daud, reportedly said Abdul Hadi won all five interlocutory applications in the case of defamation suit against Rewcastle-Brown, and Sarawak Report was ordered to pay a total of £28,900.

At that time, Abdul Hadi was reportedly confident of winning the defamation suit based on the evidence sent by the party's lawyer to court in London.