KUCHING: The Democratic Action Party Socialist Youth (DAPSY) Kuching has lodged a report with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) regarding PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang’s payment of RM1.4 million to Clare L. Rewcastle, the editor of Sarawak Report.
DAPSY secretary Anthony Chin said a payment of RM1,422,980.00 was reportedly made by Abdul Hadi to Clare Rewcastle’s advocate, Americk Sidhu, sometime in early 2019.
He said a copy of a Bank Islam cheque for the amount made payable to Americk Sidhu was uploaded by Clare Rewcastle on the Sarawak Report website.
“This payment comes from Abdul Hadi because of an out-of-court settlement for the defamation action which he had filed in the United Kingdom against Clare Rewcastle,” he told the reporters at the MACC Sarawak office here on Tuesday (Sept 6).
Chin said the PAS president had previously sued her over a 2016 Sarawak Report article which claimed that Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had channelled RM90 million to top PAS leaders in a bid to secure support ahead of GE14.
“Today’s report with the MACC is to urge the authorities to investigate this source of funds and whether there were elements of corruption involved.”
“Should the authorities find that the funds are from legal sources, then the big question is whether any income tax was paid for this amount?
“These are all very pertinent questions to be answered because this involves a party leader who enjoys ministerial privileges and represents Malaysia on an international level by virtue of being the ‘Special Envoy to Middle East’,” he added.
He hoped MACC would begin the investigation into the matter as soon as possible.
Also present was DAPSY Kuching chief Michael Kong Feng Nian.
