Terengganu sultanah sues Sarawak Report editor, 2 others for RM300 million

KUALA LUMPUR:

Terengganu’s Sultanah Nur Zahirah has filed a RM300 million defamation lawsuit against Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown, a publisher and a printer over claims made by the investigative journalist in her book on 1MDB that the sultanah was allegedly linked to the fund and fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho (Jho Low).

Rewcastle-Brown had said that Jho Low was friendly with a key player in Terengganu, the wife of the sultan, whose acquiescence was needed to set up the fund and he later cited her support as having been crucial to his obtaining the advisory level.

Aside from Rewcastle-Brown, publisher Gerakbudaya Enterprise and printer Vinlin Press have been named in the suit.

The sultanah’s legal team sent a letter of demand to Rewcastle-Brown in September, demanding that the journalist apologise within eight days over the content of her book.

The letter was also sent to Gerakbudaya Enterprise and Vinlin Press.

The sultanah’s legal team, led by lawyer Haaziq Pillay Abdullah, dismissed an apology by Rewcastle-Brown, saying it was not sincere.

Rewcastle-Brown was reported as saying that the sultanah had “misunderstood” the contents of her book, “The Sarawak Report – The Inside Story of 1MDB Expose”.

Speaking at a press conference after filing the lawsuit today through the court filing system, Haaziq said the filing of this suit was delayed by two months as both parties were trying to reach a consensus over the sultanah’s letter of demand in September.

Lawyer Haaziq Pillay Abdullah (seated), representing Terengganu’s Sultanah Nur Zahirah, showing a copy of Clare Rewcastle-Brown’s book on 1MDB. He claims the contents of her book were amended by replacing the reference to the sultanah to the sultan’s sister in a later edition.

“What I can say is both parties cannot agree over her demand.

“She told us to proceed with the lawsuit yesterday and we did so today,” he added.

Haaziq said senior lawyer Americk Sidhu will be representing Rewcastle-Brown, the publisher and the printer.

“We will serve a copy of the lawsuit on them as soon as possible,” he said, adding the High Court had fixed Dec 19 for the first case management.

Haaziq also claimed the contents in Rewcastle-Brown’s book were amended after he called a press conference in September to demand that the publisher and printer withdraw the books with the alleged defamatory statement.

“Previously, the first edition of Clare’s book stated that ‘Jho was also friendly with a key player in Terengganu, the wife of the sultan, whose acquiescence was needed to set up the fund’.

“However, the subsequent edition was amended to the sultan’s sister as the key player,” he said and questioned which was the true version.

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Terengganu sultanah sues Sarawak Report editor, 2 others for RM300 million

This is over claims in Clare Rewcastle-Brown's book on 1MDB linking the sultanah to the fund and Jho Low.