KUALA LUMPUR: PKR vice president Rafizi Ramli today revealed that Pas president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang is "close" to a businessman, who allegedly paid RM1.4 million to Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown as payout to settle Hadi’s defamation suit against her.
He uploaded a picture, showing Hadi, the businessman and another person in what appeared to be a restaurant, to prove his case on his Facebook page this afternoon.
He posted this in defence of PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who was under attack from Pas supporters, for claiming he has “credible information” that Pas had paid more than RM1 million to the Sarawak Report editor.
“It is true that the businessman had studied in MCKK (Malay College Kuala Kangsar) and used to be in ABIM (Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia).
“This is no different than me being from Terengganu (just like Hadi, who is also from Terengganu) or Hadi as Terengganu ABIM leader.
"But that does not make me a Pas strongman (just because of that similarity with Hadi) or Anwar a Pas member (just because he is also from ABIM)," he said.
Rafizi said since 2010 (when he was part of PKR leadership), the businessman was never involved in PKR or the party agenda, either as supporter or friend of Anwar.
He said the person was known more as an ABIM activist and businessman who supported the unity government agenda betwen Umno and Pas since 2008.
He said the "closeness" between Hadi and the businessman was evident with reports and pictures being posted on Pas' website showing both of them in some programmes.
"There have been reports claiming the businessman was a close friend of Hadi and was always seen with Hadi's son-in-law. Until now, this has not been refuted.
"There is nothing wrong with the man being close to Hadi. I am not surprised that he is willing to pay the RM1.4 million for the sake of friendship. It is a respectable gesture.
"What's wrong is that Pas is not being truthful and tried to spin everything for political reasons when the person has helped the party for so long." he said, adding that amid all this, Hadi had yet to clear the air.
It was reported that Hadi had reached an out of court settlement with Rewcastle-Brown to settle the suit, which the former had filed after the website accused Pas of receiving RM90 million from Umno in the run-up to the 14th General Election (GE14).
