PKR secretary-general Rafizi Ramli, in a provocative move, has challenged Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to sue him first before threatening to sue others.

Rafizi said this in response to Najib who had threatened to sue PAS organ Harakah which had questioned whether the premier's stepson Riza Aziz's wealth had benefited from state-owned 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).

“I am not only surprised that never before has a prime minister acted in such a way (threatening to sue others).

“But I am more surprised because Najib has yet to sue me although he has threatened to do so,” said Rafizi in a statement today.

The Pandan MP pointed out that the absence of a reply from Najib or his wife (Rosmah Mansor) on his explanation with regard to the legal letter he had received from them was proof that the PKR parliamentarian’s claims were indeed true.

Rafizi said he had replied to the legal letter on Dec 9 and had stressed that issues of subsidies and extravagance in the country’s expenditures were of public interest.

“It is my responsibility to continue to criticise the government over its extravagance in spending that they had to remove the fuel subsidy.

“I am quite disappointed as I was excited for my lawyers to cross-examine Najib and Rosmah at the witness stand.

“Because there has been no response from Najib and Rosmah, the rakyat can assume that my claims were indeed true,” he said.

As such, Rafizi, who is also PKR vice-president, said he would like to “encourage” more quarters to criticise the premier and to not be scared of threats in the form of legal suits.

“Because until now he has not sued anyone, especially his number one critic (former prime minister) Dr Mahathir Mohamad,” said Rafizi.

Rafizi on Dec 4 had received a legal letter from Najib and his wife, asking him to explain matters over a speech he made in Bandar Tun Razak.

The letter of demand was in relation to Rafizi’s speech at an event in Kuala Lumpur on Nov 22, a recording of which was uploaded by Media Rakyat on YouTube.

The letter of demand said that Rafizi’s speech was defamatory as he accused Najib and Rosmah, among others, of “manipulating the price of petrol for their own benefit”, “spending more than RM20 million of people’s monies on a ring”, “stealing the people’s monies for their own benefit”, and “conspiring against the nation in bad practices”.