Just before the last election, on 17th April 2018, Hadi produced a witness statement to the UK High Court making a series of claims that are now proven to have been totally untrue.
He claimed, for example, that the case was brought entirely to vindicate his own ‘reputation’ in the UK and not that of his party PAS (which would not have been accepted as a claimant in a libel case). Yet, earlier this month he spoke publically acknowledging the case had been brought in his name only for the reason that PAS could not bring a case.
On top of that lie he told another, which was that there has been no change of policy on the part of PAS after the death of Spiritual Leader Nik Aziz and that the party remains as implacably opposed to UMNO under his own leadership as it had been before. Yet, this week we see a formal coalition cemented between the parties, which have been blatantly collaborating for months, whilst pretending not to.
Indeed, it has emerged that the deposits for the record number of seats that PAS contested in the last election were paid for thanks to over RM3 million in cash deposited in PAS bank accounts by an agent of the UMNO treasurer Salleh Keruak.
Sarawak Report has obtained documents, which it was ready to place before the court, showing that RM2.5 million was deposited by the gentleman on 21st March 2018 and it has now been confirmed to this site that this money was used to secure the seat deposits.
Going further, in this very same witness statement Hadi claimed that PAS had vigorously criticised UMNO over the 1MDB scandal and was by no means seeking to avoid confronting Najib over this and other corruption issues. In fact, we can now see that Hadi has no problem signing an alliance with the same set of criminal politicians led by Najib himself, even as they face dozens of charges over 1MDB and other thefts.
Hadi maintained, of course, in the same sworn document that none of these deceits were owing to PAS being funnelled money by UMNO, even though every single other political ally of the party has received huge sums in support thanks to Najib’s policy of throwing stolen public money at buying elections.
Yet his own right hand man Nik Abduh has now confirmed all the existing evidence to the contrary by acknowledging a recording where he told PAS leaders that the party hierachy had accepted millions from UMNO. He has also confirmed that Hadi told him to lie about that recording and say it was a fake.
Sarawak Report believes in telling the truth, not ‘holy lies’.
There is a saying, which is that sooner or later the truth will catch up with you and another saying, which is that the truth will prevail. We suggest that the PAS leadership will be reminded that this is also a tenet of their own beliefs sooner rather than later.
You can read Hadi’s sworn statement in full here
And see relevant excerpts below:
- My decision to bring these proceedings against the Defendant was, and remains, entirely motivated by my desire for vindication…….
- Contrary to the suggestion at paragraph 99 of the witness statement of Keith Mathieson dated 23 January 2018 served in these proceedings, I have certainly not brought this claim principally for the vindication of my party, let alone to promote the political interests of Najib Razak. It may well be that any vindication I obtain over these allegations will have the collateral effect of benefiting PAS’s reputation, particularly now that the Defendant has chosen, in her Defence and on her website, to draw the party and other individuals into these matters. However that is not, and never has been, my main motivation.
- As evidence of the Defendant’s contention that this claim is politically motivated, the Defendant seeks to suggest at paragraph 26 of the Defence that PAS and myself are colluding and co-operating with UMNO, by breaking with the Opposition coalition, by accepting public money to fund PAS projects and schools, and by purportedly remaining silent in respect of the 1MDB issue. This is incorrect.
- With the exception of the period 1974-1978, PAS has been in Opposition to the ruling party UMNO since PAS was founded in 1951. During part of this time in Opposition, we have on a number of occasions formed a coalition with other Opposition parties, including the Democratic Action Party (DAP)……..and the suggestion that the departure from the coalition had been “bought” by UMNO is untrue. The detail of my response to these matters will be addressed in my Reply to the Defence if and when appropriate. However, to be clear, there has been no fundamental change in direction or policy for PAS. Indeed, both Nik Aziz Nik Mat and Dr Haron Din were both affiliated to the ulama faction in any event. The change of the Party’s Spiritual Leader does not represent a change in direction or policy for the party, nor is policy dictated by bribery, as the Defendant alleges……..Regardless of the fact that PAS is no longer in the Opposition coalition, we remain in opposition to UMNO and Prime Minister Najib. We are vocal critics of the government’s position in relation to the investigation of the 1MDB issue, and have raised the issued in Parliament on numerous occasions.
18. In addition, we are fielding over 150 candidates against UMNO in this year’s General Election out of 222 seats. It is simply not the case that PAS are colluding with UMNO, whether in this libel case, or more generally politically……..
The false, extremely serious accusations which the Defendant made against me in the words complained of have caused me great distress. Adhering to the tenets of Islam is fundamental to me, not just as a Muslim but also as leader of Malaysia’s largest Islamic party. Naturally, as well as being abhorrent (and criminal) in its own right, bribery is strictly forbidden by my religion and indeed any involvement in such conduct is considered an extremely serious wrong. I abhor corruption in all its forms, and to be accused of having accepted a bribe, or tacitly approving of my party members doing so, has caused me great distress and will have caused untold damage to my reputation as a Muslim, as the leader of an Islamic party, and as a person. It would be a very serious blow to me personally as well as my ability to rid my character of the stain of these allegations if I was not permitted to bring my claim before the English Court.
It seems that the issues that were such a ‘stain on Hadi’s character’ that he was driven to sue Sarawak Report in a UK court no longer matter.
He is happy to unite with Najib, despite 1MDB; he admits that he lied over a statement by a colleague who acknowledged accepting money from UMNO; he admits that the case was all about PAS’s political manoeuvring and not about his reputation in the first place.
That is the difference between what PAS said before the election in its attempt to silence fair reporting by Sarawak Report that has turned out to be substantiated and true, and what it says now.