KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 4): Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown said she made an "honest mistake" by naming Sultanah Nur Zahirah of Terengganu in her book about 1MDB, as she had mistaken the Sultanah with her sister-in-law.

The first print of "The Sarawak Report: The Inside Story of the 1MDB Exposé" in August 2018 had referred to the Sultanah instead of the Terengganu Sultan's sister Tunku Datuk Rahimah Sultan Mahmud.

Rewcastle-Brown, who was testifying via video conference from the UK, said in her witness statement before court that while she regretted making the error, the Sultanah’s interpretation of the impugned passage is wrong.

The impugned statement is: “Jho (fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low) was also 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 position”.

The editor said the words “whose acquiescence was needed to set up the fund” referred to Nur Zahirah’s husband, Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin.

“In this passage, I meant that it was the Sultan’s acquiescence which was needed to set up the fund, TIA (Terengganu Investment Authority),”she testified before judicial commissioner Dr John Lee Kien How @ Mohd Johan Lee.

TIA was set up as a sovereign wealth fund designed to invest the State’s oil revenues; it was eventually federalised into 1MDB.

Rewcastle-Brown said anyone reading the passage would know that it was the Sultan’s acquiescence which was required by Jho Low to secure the funds and not the Sultanah’s, as he was the head of state and held official positions, while she was his spouse and had no official capacity.

She added that after a statement was issued by the Terrenganu Royal Council of Regency on Sept 14, 2018, she rechecked her sources for the book and discovered that Jho Low had been introduced to the Sultan by his sister, not Nur Zahirah.

“The correction was made and sent to Gerak Budaya and Vinlin Press. After making the changes to the passage and the third print (second impression) of the book began printing, I also published a statement on Sarawak Report on Sept 27, 2018 in response to the press conference by the Sultanah’s lawyers, regarding the correction.”

She added that she had never suggested any impropriety on the part of Jho Low’s contacts, be it Nur Zahirah or the Sultan’s sister, or that Jho Low’s engagement as an advisor of TIA was in itself a corrupt act.

“What was corrupt was his later theft of money from 1MDB (and not when it was TIA), after the fund had been transferred from the purview of Terengganu altogether to the Federal government.”

“The book and the passage complained of certainly doesn’t suggest or impute that anyone involved in the act of establishing TIA, which includes the Sultan, were involved in corrupt practices.

“To conclude that there is defamatory imputation in saying someone introduced Jho to the Sultan, is a step removed from the establishment of TIA, and a further step from involvement in the 1MDB scandal thereafter,” she said.

Rewcastle-Brown said that she had written the passage in her book because she thought it was relevant that the public knew how the large-scale sacking of the sovereign wealth fund 1MDB came to pass.

She added that it was important to the narrative of how TIA became 1MDB under the power of former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak.

“When ordinary members of the public have access to such details and information, public debate and political discourse about such issues become more meaningful,” she said.

Rewcastle-Brown also claimed that the sum of RM100 million which the Sultanah was seeking was “excessive” and was meant to intimidate.

Rewcastle-Brown, Gerakbudaya Enterprise publisher Chong Ton Sin and printer Vinlin Press Sdn Bhd were named as defendants following the publication of the book. They were represented by lawyer Americk Sidhu.

AK Vishnu Kumar represented the Sultanah.

When asked by Vishnu if she had reached out to the Sultanah for clarification before writing the book, Rewcastle-Brown answered in the negative.

Earlier, former Terengganu Menteri Besar Datuk Ahmad Said had testified as a witness for Nur Zahirah.

He said the Sultanah had never interfered with the affairs of the State government and that she was not involved in the establishment of TIA.

Besides Ahmad, former comptroller of the Terengganu royal household Datuk Mohd Azmi Mohamad Daham also testified on behalf of the Sultanah.

Rewcastle-Brown’s only other witness was John Ellison Kahn, an editor and author who was brought in to give his interpretation of Rewcastle-Brown’s impugned statement specifically to the term “whose acquiescence”.

“(The word) ‘whose’ appears to refer to the Sultan. The reasonable reader of that passage would not necessarily analyse it that way (as referring to the sultanah), but they would read the passage as I have read it – the acquiescence is related to the Sultan and not the Sultanah,” he said.

With this, no more witnesses were called. The judicial commissioner then set Sept 20 for oral submissions from both sides, he said that he will give a date of his decision then.

In her suit, the Sultanah has alleged that Rewcastle-Brown made a disparaging statement about her in the book.

She claimed that the statement could be taken to mean that she was involved in corrupt practices and interfered with the State's administration.

She also claimed that the statement in the book had implied she was “friendly” with fugitive financier Jho Low, and that she had helped him become the adviser of TIA.