Why did Mahathir ask Clare Brown to settle the case out of court?

And this is what frightens Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Pakatan Harapan. Mahathir and Pakatan believe that a few billion Ringgit of 1MDB’s money (they believe it is more than RM10 billion) has been stashed away in Kazakhstan. And they are worried that once Najib is in London, Kazakhstan will grant him political asylum and he can fly safely to Kazakhstan where he has billions or tens of billions at his disposal. (This is what they believe, not what I believe).

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

The chatter over the last few days was whether Clare Rewcastle Brown was right after all that former Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak paid PAS or the PAS president, Abdul Hadi Awang, RM90 million as alleged.

Some say since Hadi refused to continue with the case that means the allegation must be true: that Najib did give PAS RM90 million. Actually, it was BOTH Hadi and Clare who agreed to not continue with the case, not Hadi alone.

Well, you cannot blame them for spinning and most Pakatan Harapan people would agree with the argument that this out-of-court settlement means Clare won and Hadi lost. In other words, Najib did give PAS RM90 million.

Small minds look at the small picture and miss the big picture to the whole issue

This argument, basically, goes by the doctrine of the absence of evidence that it did not happen (or is not present) means it must have happened (or is present). Religionists use this same argument: the fact you cannot prove God does not exist means God does exist. (Or the fact you cannot prove the Quran did not come from God means the Quran did come from God: which means Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, etc., are going to hell).

Have you noticed one thing? All this while Najib has kept quiet and said nothing. The allegation is that it was Najib who gave PAS the RM90 million and yet Najib did not say a word. It was not until yesterday, after the announcement that the case has been settled out of court, that Najib denied giving PAS RM90 million. Why is that?

Actually, Najib remained silent all this while because he was going to issue this denial in the London court in front of the judge. That is why Najib remained silent and never said a word until yesterday. Najib was also going to tell the court that the Malaysian government had arrested and charged him for 40 or 50 crimes involving theft, money-laundering, etc., but not a single charge involved giving PAS RM90 million stolen from 1MDB.

Why did Najib remain silent all this while until yesterday?

That means, since Najib was not arrested and charged for stealing RM90 million of 1MDB’s money, and for giving it to PAS (which involves money laundering charges as well), the allegation cannot be true.

Another point that people seem to have forgotten is that Clare said she got this information from the then Bersih Chairman, Ambiga Sreenevasan. That is Clare’s source of information, Ambiga. And Ambiga is going to have to testify in court because Clare needs, as they say in legal terms, to ‘prove the maker’.

The court only has Clare’s word that it was Ambiga who gave her the information. Ambiga now needs to go to court to tell the judge that this is true, that she did give Clare the information. Hence Clare can clear her name (be vindicated, as she said) and not be accused of fabricating a story.

Once Ambiga goes to court and confirms that it really was she who told Clare that Najib gave PAS RM90 million, PAS can now go for her, and in a Malaysian court this time. And Ambiga would now need to prove in the Malaysian court that what she said is true and is not a lie. The burden now shifts to Ambiga to prove her story.

Hadi did Mahathir a favour by dropping this case

Ambiga wants to avoid this and she is very angry with Clare for ‘dragging her name’ into this case. And she told Clare to settle the matter out of court so that this whole matter does not become even more messy and so many other people get dragged into it.

Note that so far Ambiga has refused to comment whether it is true she told Clare that Najib gave PAS RM90 million. Ambiga could have just denied Clare’s story but she did not. If Ambiga denies it then Clare’s defence crumbles (which means the story is fabricated and is not based on information from Ambiga) and if she confirms it then PAS can now go for her (Ambiga) as well.

So, NOT settling out of court is NOT an option.

But the most important point of all involves Najib’s testimony. It was not until yesterday that Najib denied giving PAS RM90 million. And he remained silent all this while because he was reserving his testimony for the hearing. He was going to appear before the judge to issue this denial.

Mahathir and Pakatan believe after flying to London Najib will end up in Khazakhstan

And that means Najib needs to travel to London to do this. And that means Najib has to be allowed to leave Malaysia and his passport needs to be returned to him.

And this is what frightens Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Pakatan Harapan. Mahathir and Pakatan believe that a few billion Ringgit of 1MDB’s money (they believe it is more than RM10 billion) has been stashed away in Kazakhstan. And they are worried that once Najib is in London, Kazakhstan will grant him political asylum and he can fly safely to Kazakhstan where he has billions or tens of billions at his disposal. (This is what they believe, not what I believe).

Mahathir and Pakatan cannot afford for this to happen. But then Najib is the most crucial witness in this whole case because he is the one who was supposed to have given PAS RM90 million. And Najib has never confirmed or denied this (until yesterday) because he wants to make his statement in the London court.

Can you imagine what will happen if Najib is allowed to travel to London? Worse still, can you imagine what will happen if, say, Kazakhstan grants Najib political asylum and Najib flies to that country instead of flying back to Malaysia?

Najib has family in Kazakhstan

But then Clare is going to summon Ambiga to confirm in court the RM90 million was paid. So, to be fair to Hadi, he must be allowed to summon Najib to confirm in court the RM90 million was not paid.

It is actually hilarious that so many people, and many of them lawyers on top of that, are focused on discussing whether this out-of-court settlement means the allegation is true (and that Clare won and Hadi lost) without looking at the bigger picture. Is Raja Petra Kamarudin the only Malaysian who has brains? The issue here is simple. The case needs to be dropped so that Najib can be prevented from leaving Malaysia. And without Najib’s testimony in the London court how can the case proceed?

Aiyah, it is so hard to be humble when you are the only smart Malaysian. So, forgive me if I sound arrogant. I think I have earned the right to be arrogant. Phew…lucky I went to the Malay College Kuala Kangsar (and then to the Victoria Institution) and not to some silly Chinese school.

So, in short, Hadi did Mahathir a favour by dropping this case. But then why would Hadi want to do Mahathir this favour? Ah, that is another story for another time. Just remind me later that I owe you a story about why Hadi did Mahathir a favour by dropping this case.