KUALA LUMPUR, March 1 — PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli said today he has ascertained the name of the owner of a Bank Islam account allegedly used to transfer RM1.4 million to Sarawak Report (SR), amid denials by PAS leaders claiming said account is "fake”.

Rafizi said the 10-digit Bank Islam account number revealed by SR editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown was only part of the actual 14-digit number.

"I started by identifying the patterns of the 14-digit account numbers from Bank Islam cheques available on the internet. I observed three cheques, from Messrs LC Signature, Messrs Yayasan Taqwa and Messrs Sabasun,” he said.

To support his findings, Rafizi said he then proceeded to transfer RM10 into the account of Messrs Yayasan Taqwa, and the transfer was successful.

He then proceeded to reveal the full account number from which the RM1.4 million was allegedly transferred from, and named the owner of the account.

The former Pandan MP said his investigation was in response to PAS supporters ganging up on him for weighing in on the controversy, and accusing him of slandering the party.

"I hope PAS supporters and the Opposition stop themselves from criticising and accept the fact that their party president paid Clare Rewcastle-Brown to not continue the lawsuit,” Rafizi wrote.

Rewcastle-Brown’s lawyer Americk Sidhu has also been quoted by Malaysiakini affirming the veracity of the cheque used to pay SR.

"I confirm this cheque was cleared through my clients’ account with Maybank, which means the cheque must have been genuine or the clearing bank made a huge mistake,” he was quoted telling Malaysiakini.

Earlier today, SR editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown said that PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang had to cover SR’s RM1.4 million in legal fees, in order to withdraw his defamation lawsuit.

In a posting on her website, she said this was not stated in the mutual settlement as Hadi’s lawyers had placed the sum in escrow prior to the termination.

Rewcastle-Brown included an excerpt of a letter of undertaking confirming the amount, and said the payment was the only item from the settlement both parties had agreed to remain silent over.

Hadi had sued Rewcastle-Brown in 2017 over a report the preceding year alleging PAS leaders took RM90 million to support Umno and Barisan Nasional ahead of the 14th general election.

He inexplicably withdrew the lawsuit filed in London, UK, this year, prompting views that he was no longer disputing the accuracy of the report that remains on the SR website.