Criminal
Rewcastle: No conspiracy to topple Gov't
over 8 years ago jayeffJoseph Francis
The Sarawak-born Editor said the article in the New Straits Times on Sun was just the latest in numerous libelous accusations that have been made against her.
NEWS Sarawak-born Clare Rewcastle-Brown, the Founder-Editor of the UK-based whistleblowing website The Sarawak Report, has denied a New Straits Times (Nst) report on Sun that she was engaged in a conspiracy to topple the democratically-elected Federal Government in Putrajaya headed by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.
She said that nothing that Nst can do or say against her and The Sarawak Report will alter the fact that crimes have been committed in Malaysia, involving 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), and these are being investigated in several countries. "We reserve our rights regarding any further distortions, accuracies or false allegations by Nst."
"Perhaps, not surprisingly, the Nst has performed a classic job of selectively editing and distorting quotes in order to try and do a hatchet job on me."
The article in Nst, she stressed, was just the latest in numerous libelous accusations that have been made against her by them and other organs of Najib, "who are happy to accuse anyone in this matter, except those who are blatantly the actual criminals".
She conceded that she has charged that the 1MDB Board of Directors was involved in a multi-billion dollar heist that generated fat kickbacks for them. "I have said this numerous times but so far there has been no libel suit."
Rewcastle, in stating her case via email from London, said that she does not agree with Nst that Najib was democratically elected. "I do indeed think that the Prime Minister of Malaysia is managing a dangerous criminal regime which has stolen billions from the public and then used some of it to buy an election."
This is a reference to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report on Friday 3 July which alleged that USD 681 million entered Najib's accounts with AmBank Islamic private banking services just before the last General Election in 2013.
Najib, without touching on the WSJ report, claimed that he received the said sum from a Middle Eastern source, either a power or an individual, for the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) to win GE13.
Rewcastle, going back to the Nst report, said that "the problem is that I am not the person who has committed a crime. The people that they (Nst) are trying to protect by attacking me have committed the crime."
"Corruption went up through the country's power structures. When there's corruption at the very top in a country, the impact on everyone who is not part of the crony clique in charge was invariably disastrous."
She charged that the business community, both local and foreign, doesn't want to deal with the Malaysian Government because of the escalating problem of graft which has reached epic proportions under Najib. "The economy is showing the consequences."
The Nst, added Rewcastle, has done nothing to confront blatant criminality at the heart of their country and government. "Not once has this propaganda sheet expressed the slightest concern or regret that money which was borrowed for development was siphoned into accounts controlled by Penangite business and Najib's friend, Jho Low."
The Nst, she continued, has also bandied about allegations of planned money laundering on her part. "Of course, that's nonsense. If money is earned in the first place and legitimately transferred, what's being laundered?"
Laundering takes place, she explained, when one was trying to disguise stolen money or the proceeds of crime i.e. the money stolen by Jho Low and Good Star from the 1MDB PetroSaudi Joint Venture and then laundered through BSI Bank in Singapore and most recently through Jho Low's father's accounts in Switzerland as well.
