Following revelations by the US Department of Justice on the 1MDB scandal last week, Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua said he is eager to face Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak in court.

This is in relation to the lawsuit Najib filed against Pua for his statement on 1MDB, and against Mediarakyat.net portal owner Chan Chee Kong for publishing a video of Pua’s allegedly defamatory speech.

“The case is still in court. We have not reached a hearing date.

“But let me say this to everyone today: I cannot wait for the day when I get to bring Najib to court, to sit in the witness stand, to tell us Malaysians: How did Tony Pua defame him when he said he is a robber in this country.

“We will bring out all the evidence listed in the lawsuit by the US attorney-general,” Pua told some 700 DAP supporters at a dinner function in Shah Alam last night.

Pua had contended that the 'Malaysian Official 1' implicated in embezzlement in money laundering in the US Department of Justice’s court filings is none other than Najib.

Najib has consistently denied wrongdoing in the 1MDB matter. Malaysian attorney-general Mohd Apandi Ali has also cleared the prime minister of any wrongdoing.

The US Department of Justice filed a series of civil forfeiture suits last Wednesday.

It seeks to seize more than US$1 billion in assets that were supposedly purchased with funds misappropriated from 1MDB and subsequently laundered through the US financial system, with hopes of returning it to Malaysia in some form.

Pua was 'moved to tears'

Pua, who is also DAP publicity chief and a longtime critic of 1MDB, said he was nearly moved to tears as he watched a live broadcast of US attorney-general Loretta Lynch’s announcement of the move.

At last, he said, action is being taken against those supposedly responsible for the 1MDB scandal.

“I waited for the press conference (by Lynch) in my house. As I listened to the press conference, my hair was standing; my ears almost wanted to come out.

“I felt like I was about to shed tears, because after six years of exposing 1MDB since my very first question in Parliament in March 2010, finally we are beginning to see concrete action against the crooks behind the multi-billion dollar scandal in 1MDB,” he said.

Pua lamented that it was the US that had acted against 1MDB, rather than Malaysia, even though the money was stolen from this country.

“If you listen to the attorney-general of the United States, she was speaking as though she was fighting for the rights of the ordinary Malaysians in Malaysia. Our leaders should be doing that; our leaders in BN are failing us,” he said.

Pua also joked that the travel ban imposed on him since last year has been a ‘blessing in disguise’.

He said he wouldn’t have to suffer the embarrassment of the scandal if he is asked, when travelling abroad, which country he is from.