PAS today claimed it achieved a "moral victory" against whistleblower portal Sarawak Report, which it is suing in the UK for claiming that it received Umno funding.

"The early moral victory is a positive development, and we feel that all the claims made to date are slander by outside forces," said Samsuri Mokhtar, political secretary to PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang.

Earlier today, Hadi's lawyer said that his client had won all five interlocutory applications against Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown, who was ordered to pay £28,900 (RM156,017) in costs.

According to Samsuri, 50 of the 55 pages of Rewcastle-Brown's defence statement was also struck out by the court.

The PAS candidate for Ru Rendang said this at a press conference in Marang today to address the matter.

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Sarawak Report, however, disputed both PAS' claims of a 'moral victory' and that its defence statement had been struck out, calling these "ridiculous."

"The claim that the judge struck out Sarawak Report's truth defence and that therefore 70 percent of the case has now been won by PAS is a complete untruth.

"Sarawak Report had already withdrawn the current version of the truth defence, in order to amend and strengthen it with new information that has become available relating to PAS receiving funds from Umno,” it said in a statement.

"We explained to the court (when discussing costs) that this includes a recording that is in the public domain, purportedly of (PAS central committee member) Nik Abduh Nik Abdul Aziz admitting the party receives cash from Umno.

"The judge enquired if Sarawak Report will be bringing a revised truth defence before the trial, and our lawyers confirmed we would.

"Sarawak Report had already agreed before the trial to pay the costs of those changes, and the judge slashed to nearly half the amount that Hadi's lawyers claimed they needed for the time spent," it added.

Sarawak Report also noted that the decision today was on a procedural matter, as it had sought for a preliminary trial, which is more cost-effective compared to a full trial.

"However, PAS resisted this possibility of an early termination of their case and said they wanted a full, very expensive trial.

"They said they would bring up several complications at any preliminary hearing and would also appeal if they lost the judgement.

"The judge therefore said it was safer and might turn out cheaper in the end to have the full trial, where Sarawak Report is defending several other interrelated issues on which it can defeat Hadi's case, not least the truth and the right to report in the public interest," it said.