A DAP lawmaker has urged authorities to investigate Low Taek Jho for money laundering for the use of "illicit funds" to orchestrate the purchase of Utama Banking Group (UBG Bank) in 2010.

Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua said the entire complicated structure of the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB)- Petrosaudi International Ltd joint venture in 2009 seemed to have been "designed to eventually allow Jho Low and his associates" to siphon billions of ringgit from the Finance Ministry.

"The entire complicated structure smells of one designed to conceal or disguise the establishment of the true nature and origin of funds utilised for the acquisition of UBG," Pua said.

According to Sarawak Report and The Edge , a sum loaned by 1MDB to the Petrosaudi was eventually used to allow Petrosaudi's Malaysian arm, Javace Sdn Bhd, to buy over UBG in a RM 1.4 billion deal in 2010.

The deal is said to have enabled former Sarawak chief minister Abdul Taib Mahmud and his family, who controlled UBG previously, to walk away with RM465 million.

Pua said that there is “sufficient suspicion” raised on the deal to warrant a probe under Section 4 of the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing (Amendment) Act 2013.

Pua said that Jho Low and his associates along with his foreign counterparts at Petrosaudi had designed a “highly sophisticated layering transactions to disguise the audit trail and provide anonymity”.

He urged that Bank Negara investigate the matter along with the police and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).