The Edge and Singapore's Straits Times continued their debate over the latter's damning interview with former PetroSaudi director Xavier Andre Justo in a Bangkok jail in 2015.

In an article today, The Edge Media Group publisher and chief executive officer (CEO) Ho Kay Tat noted how ST editor Warren Fernandez defended the interview by his correspondent Nirmal Ghosh.

He was referring to a May 27 article in ST, which responded to Ho's earlier piece titled “Hidden hands, spin and the truth.”

This was in relation to Justo's claim that the ST interview in 2015 was scripted and the people behind this were PetroSaudi director Patrick Mahony and British private detective Paul Finnegan.

Ho, in today's article, also clarified the term “hidden hands” in his previous article did not refer to the Singapore government as suggested by certain social media postings.

“This has nothing to do with the Singapore government.

“It has to do with how ST reported and published a story based on an interview with Justo that he has since said he was forced to do and in which he was forced to say things that were not true about The Edge, our chairman Tong Kooi Ong and Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle Brown,” he said.

Ho said in ST's May 27 article, Nirmal insisted that he dealt with only the lawyer who was representing Justo.

“He did not name the lawyer, but we can name him as Worasit Piriyawiboon, who was appointed by PetroSaudi — a company accused of stealing more than US$1 billion ($1.3 billion) from 1MDB.

“According to Justo, however, Nirmal interviewed him in the presence of Finnegan. Lawyer Worasit was not in the room. It was just Justo, Nirmal and Finnegan,” he added.

Ho also quoted an email from Justo which stated the latter was instructed to blame himself, Tong, Rewcastle-Beown and the opposition and not to mention Jho Low or former premier Najib Abdul Razak.

Ho then questioned in what capacity was Finnegan present at the interview?

“Was he there to ensure Justo spoke according to the script? Did Nirmal question Finnegan’s presence? Who else was Nirmal in contact with in connection with the interview when he was in Bangkok?

“We are confident that the truth and further details will emerge from the various ongoing investigations now underway,” he added.

In the ST article on May 27, Nirmal said he had approached the story in a professional manner.

"If Justo's new claims are true, they are disappointing. I pursued the story as a professional journalist, trying various ways to get details on the case and access to Justo. I put in a request to his Thai lawyer for an interview.

"When I was told by the lawyer I could interview him, I proceeded in good faith and reported his remarks accurately," he said.

"More often than not, in interviews, newsmakers tell their side of the story. This seemed no different.

"Whatever deals Justo had made, or what his deeper calculation was, I was unaware of. To verify the claims and as per good journalistic practice, we asked for reactions from key people he named - and we used their reactions as well," he added.