Lawyer confirms RM1.42mil settlement cheque for libel suit was received

PETALING JAYA (March 2): The lawyer for Sarawak Report has confirmed that he received a cheque for RM1.423mil as settlement for Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang’s libel suit against the site.

“I banked it into my client’s account. That is the exact cheque that I received,” Americk Sidhu was quoted as saying by The Star. 

“Once the preliminaries were fulfilled, followed by the court order obtained from the London court, only then was I permitted to release the money to Clare,” he said.

Responding to allegations that the Bank Islam bank account was fake, Americk said: “Nonsense. Of course it was cleared. Whatever they say, the cheque was cleared in my client’s account and the money was transferred.

“If the cheque was fake or if it was a false account, it would never have been cleared.”

Americk agreed with Rewcastle-Brown's previous statements that the confidentiality agreement had been breached by PAS secretary-general Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan, when he denied that funds were paid to settle the case out of court.

He said that prior to Takiyuddin's statements, Rewcastle Brown had said “no comment” to news agencies on the matter, following PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's reveal that PAS had paid RM1.4mil to settle the suit.

“If Takiyuddin’s statement was allowed to stand then it would mean that Clare was happy to walk away from the suit without her legal costs being paid which will imply that she was not very confident in her defence.

“Clare has been very confident from the beginning about her defence to Hadi’s suit.”