EPISODES

/ (3/5) Dramatis Personæ —

9 Q 4 SR

Published in

SARAWAK REPORT COVERUPS

6 min readSep 3, 2015

Who’s Who of Clare Brown

CONTINUED FROM PART II

XAVIER JUSTO

Arrested by Thai police on June 22, 2015, Xavier Andre Justo became an overnight sensation…

“Justo had allegedly threatened to release confidential business information, purportedly stolen from the company, if his demands were not met.
“An expert from PGI said: “Our investigation is still ongoing, but it is clear that we are looking at a case of large-scale data theft, and our analysis substantiates that Justo is the source of the data published on Sarawak Report.
“It is also clear that the stolen data sets are incomplete, and underwent an editing process after they were removed from PetroSaudi’s systems, and before they were published on the Internet. There are many inconsistencies between the published data and the data which still exists on files within PetroSaudi relating to that period of time. Simply put, it is incomplete data, creatively selected and edited to fit a desired narrative.”
(‘Thai police nab PetroSaudi ex-staff over attempted extortion.’ — New Straits Times, June 23, 2015)

…And the subject of a hastily assembled and just as quietly aborted rescue attempt — by none other than Sarawak Report. Or was it nothing than just another ruse to save herself and Sarawak Report before they drop another “SENSATIONAL FINDING!” and then the wheel would be set in motion again, and none would be ever the wiser.
In her ‘Open Letter to the Swiss Foreign Ministry in Bern’, Clare Rewcastle Brown empathically appealed to “[Name of official withheld]”,

“I further request that Mr Justo is given all the protection due to a whistleblower in this situation and that proper steps are taken to investigate a grave financial fraud in which PetroSaudi International has played a major role.
“And I demand that PetroSaudi should now be properly investigated in Switzerland for conspiring to perpetrate this malicious action against a former Director of their company, who apparently parted ways owing to his concerns over its corrupt practices.
“In anticipation of an immediate reply on behalf of your citizen in captivity.”
- Clare Rewcastle Brown
(‘Open Letter to the Swiss Foreign Ministry in Bern.’ — Sarawak Report, June 23, 2015)

“The contacts, who wish to remain anonymous, but who are extremely close, say that the family is distraught at what they say is a “terrible injustice” and an orchestrated attempt to defame Justo and make him a scapegoat over a billion dollar scandal in Malaysia.”
(‘It’s All Lies About Justo!’ — Sarawak Report, June 27, 2015)

At this point, one cannot help but to wonder why would Clare Rewcastle Brown say the things she did, especially now that Mr Justo had tendered his confession and apparently not under duress, in exchange for a lighter sentence — his confession is further corroborated by some of the contacts that he had named in the said confession.

“I tried to open an account in Singapore, to have the money paid directly from (the buyer’s) account,” Justo said.
“DBS Bank refused, I don’t know why. After that I opened an account in Abu Dhabi in my own personal name which was refused by (the buyer) because it had my name on it.
“Then I tried to use my company account in Hong Kong and he said the same, after that it was through a Luxembourg company and then again (the buyer) refused and after that Clare Brown took the lead.”
“All of what is written in my confession, most of it is proven by e-mail conversations, WhatsApp messages I have had with (them).”
Ms Rewcastle-Brown had agreed to receive the US$2 million from the buyer and send him US$250,000 a month for consultancy services, he claimed.
“I don’t know if she received the money or not, (because) I was arrested,” he said. “I have no idea.”
(‘I was offered $2.7m for stolen data: Ex-PetroSaudi employee Xavier Andre Justo on the 1MDB saga.’ — The Straits Times, July 24, 2015)

To this, The Straits Times of Singapore was returned with a gruff,

“Bunkum.
“What I have presented on 1MDB and has been clarified by The Edge and corroborated by several other official sources is a coherent explanation of events, versus the dodging, changing stories of 1MDB.”
- Clare Rewcastle Brown
(‘I was offered $2.7m for stolen data: Ex-PetroSaudi employee Xavier Andre Justo on the 1MDB saga.’ — The Straits Times, July 24, 2015)

[RELATED: BREAKING / JUSTO AND THE EDGE MEDIA GROUP — “Yes, we misled him. But that was the only way to get hold of the evidence to expose how a small group of Malaysians and foreigners cheated the people of Malaysia of US$1.83 billion (S$2.5 billion). All the more so when we know he will be upset with us because we will eventually not pay him what he wants.” — Datuk Tong Kooi Ong and Ho Kay Tat, July 24, 2015]
[RELATED: BREAKING / SWISS NATIONAL GIVEN 3-YEAR JAIL TERM FOR 1MDB-LINKED BLACKMAIL — “A report published last month in Singaporean daily the Straits Times claimed that Justo had affirmed that the businessman and Clare Rewcastle-Brown, the editor of the Sarawak report, wanted to use the data to “bring down the Malaysian government.” He also said that his interlocutors had evoked the possibility of “modifying the documents”, which Rewcastle-Brown has denied. The country’s anti-corruption agency later said the $700 million was donations, effectively clearing Razak of wrongdoing.” — FultonCounty.COM, August 17, 2015]
[RELATED: CURRENT / CLARE REWCASTLE BROWN’S INTERVIEW ON CHANNEL NEWSASIA REGARDING THE WARRANT FOR HER ARREST — “The Prime Minister has now finally had it announced through the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission that that was not anything to do with 1MDB money, which actually certainly I and I don’t know of any investigative reporters who said it was.” — Clare Rewcastle Brown, August 5, 2015]
[RELATED: FOCUS / CLARE REWCASTLE BROWN’S IGNORANCE OF HER OWN COUNTRY’S LEGAL CODES — “11 Obtaining services dishonestly. (2) A person obtains services in breach of this subsection if– (a) they are made available on the basis that the payment has been, is being, or will be made for or in respect of them, (b) he obtains them without any payment having been made for or in respect of them or without payment having been made in full, and (c) when he obtains them, he knows– (i) that they are being made available on the basis described in paragraph (a), or (ii) that they might be, but intends that payment will not be made, or will not be made in full.” — UK FRAUD ACT 2006, August 16, 2015]
[RELATED: BREAKING / SWISS NATIONAL XAVIER JUSTO GIVEN 3-YEAR JAIL TERM FOR 1MDB-LINKED BLACKMAIL — August 17, 2015]
[RELATED: BREAKING / BUSINESSMAN AT CENTER OF MAJOR MALAYSIAN CORRUPTION SCANDAL IS JAILED IN THAILAND “I did pursue him doggedly to get the material. In the end he surrendered it for free.” — Clare Rewcastle Brown, August 17, 2015]

Not unlike her saying, “The outcome of the case in Singapore is immaterial,” when questioned about the use of fabricated materials on her website, incidentally the raison d’être of the NINE QUESTIONS Blog.
Naturally, these recent developments had given rise to ever more questions, and not all of them are any longer directed towards 1MDB, but also back to Clare Rewcastle Brown herself. The frequently deployed, yet rarely reasonable and investigated universal put-down of ‘henchmen’ or ‘crony’ for any critics that come asking questions are by now wearing thin, as the general public begin demanding their own answers from the Editor-in-Chief of Sarawak Report, on some of the blatant discrepancies and outright lies that have gradually been uncovered in her articles — the true colours of which are slowly but surely emerging from the negative.