KUALA LUMPUR, March 1 — PAS information chief Nasrudin Hasan today claimed that the bank account used to transfer a purported RM1.4 million to Sarawak Report (SR) as settlement is fake.

The preacher claimed on Facebook that some of his friends had tried to check the veracity of the said bank account by transferring RM5 and RM1, and allegedly found the account to be non-existent.

He then promoted PAS’ own Bank Islam account, and called on those who were curious to transfer funds into that, assuring that their transfers would go through.

“Yesterday, photo of a cheque and an account number was made viral to defame PAS, with a new tune of RM1.4 million. There were friends who checked the account number which was made viral by transferring RM5 and RM1, and the account was proven to be non-existent.

“Let’s do it like this, try testing by transferring RM5 or RM10 or RM100 to this account,” he said, sharing the Islamist party’s bank account details.

He did not state whether those who transfer their cash into PAS’ account for “testing” will ever get their money back.

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.

She also derided Hadi and PAS leaders for paying the RM1.4 million in order to terminate the lawsuit, saying they would have spent significantly more had they pursued the case to the end and ultimately lost.

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.