A travel ban has been imposed on The Edge Media Group's owner Tong Kooi Ong, according to checks with the Immigration Department's website.

The company publishes The Edge Financial Daily and The Edge Weekly , which have covered the 1MDB controversy extensively in recent years.

Apart from Tong, two opposition lawmakers - Tony Pua and Rafizi Ramli - face similar travel bans .

Pua found out about the ban when he attempted to leave for Indonesia today.

He told Malaysiakini that the Immigration Department personnel said his travel ban was the result from an: "Order from above".

Upon learning this, Rafizi checked his travel status on the Immigration Department website and discovered he too was banned from leaving the country.

Is he the 'media tycoon'?

Over the past several years, Pua and Rafizi have been 1MDB's harshest critics, accusing the company of making a series of questionable deals with little scrutiny.

Rafizi and Pua were implicated by former journalist Lester Melanyi who claimed that the duo was involved with forging documents as part of a conspiracy to smear Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and 1MDB.

Pua had warned Lester to retract his remarks by July 27 or face legal action, while Rafizi is also mulling legal action.

However, Tong had been indirectly fingered by a series of news reports which claimed that a "media tycoon", among others, had been in touch with former PetroSaudi International Ltd (PSI) executive Xavier Andre Justo.

Justo was arrested by the Thai police on June 22 for allegedly attempting to blackmail his former employer with threats of releasing confidential company documents.

According to the Thai police, the documents were eventually sold.

Attempts to contact the Immigration Department for details went unanswered.

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