PANDAN MP Rafizi Ramli has threatened to campaign in Titiwangsa to ensure its MP Johari Abdul Ghani, who is also Finance Minister II, loses in the general election if public funds are used to bail out 1MDB.

He said this following a report in The Straits Times last night that Malaysia and Abu Dhabi had reached a settlement on a dispute involving US$3.5 billion (RM16 billion) in debt obligations from 1MDB.

According to the report, part of the proposed settlement calls for Malaysia to repay Abu Dhabi US$1.2 billion (RM5.3 billion) before year-end.

The amount represents a loan and accumulated interest charges on a bailout financial package 1MDB received from Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) in July 2015.

The bulk of the payment on the outstanding loan amount will come from the sale of so-called “fund units” from Brazen Sky, a financial unit owned by 1MDB, to an undisclosed buyer, the Straits Times reported.

The settlement agreement also calls for both parties to enter into negotiations to resolve another dispute involving roughly US$3.5 billion in the form of cash advances and payments from 1MDB to IPIC.

The PKR vice-president said he was surprised by the news and worried that this might be another move to “misappropriate public funds to bail out 1MDB”.

“I urge Johari to answer which company is buying the investment unit that has not been verified of its value from Brazen Sky Limited or 1MDB,” Rafizi said in a statement today.

“Is the company that is injecting US$1.2 billion into 1MDB to pay IPIC a government subsidiary? Where, if the company is a government subsidiary, will get the funds to pay 1MDB?”

The Pandan MP also warned Johari not to conspire with the government if it involved public funds to pay IPIC.

“I want to remind Johari that the people know the government has unexpected revenue from the rise in raw fuel prices.

“If a single sen from that money is used to pay off 1MDB debts, and not returned to the people in the form of fuel subsidies, I will personally campaign in Titiwangsa, which is next to Pandan, to make sure Johari loses in the 14th general election,” he said.

The RM16 billion dispute – which forms the main plank of the money-laundering probe launched in the United States and Singapore – has been threatening to boil over into a legal slug fest that could have been damaging for Najib, the government and 1MDB. – April 21, 2017.