Hadi's team offered to pay in cash, says Clare's lawyer

Representatives of PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang had allegedly attempted to pay Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown in cash, claimed her lawyer Americk Sidhu. 

According to news portal The Malaysian Insight, Americk (above) had disagreed with the proposal, prompting a man, who served as a mediator between Hadi and Rewcastle-Brown, to write a cheque for RM1.4 million instead. 

"So there was a cash offer first... It's when I refused to accept cash, was when the mediator proceeded to write out his personal cheque," he said. 

Americk said the cash option was unacceptable because it would trigger an unnecessary alarm. 

Hadi filed a defamation suit in London against Rewcastle-Brown over a 2016 article which suggested that PAS received RM90 million from Umno. 

However, Hadi had strangely decided to withdraw the suit in February while Rewcastle-Brown's article has not been retracted. 

Following this, PKR president Anwar Ibrahim revealed that Hadi had paid Rewcastle-Brown RM1.4 million as part of the settlement. 

It has now been established that a current GLC boss was the mediator and the person who signed the cheque. 

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