A DAP lawmaker has accused Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak of hampering investigations to uncover possible fraud with regard to 1MDB.

Tony Pua said this in response to Najib, who is also finance minister, stating that it is still premature to conclude if fraud had occurred in the US$3.5 billion transaction between 1MDB and International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC).

Najib had mentioned this in a parliamentary written reply to DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, who is also the MP for Bagan.

In a media statement, Pua said this was despite 1MDB having paid US$3.51 billion to a wrong firm incorporated in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), which was unrelated to IPIC.

He added that the BVI firm had wound up in mid-2015, and the whereabouts of the US$3.51 billion remains a mystery.

Pua also noted how 1MDB president and executive director Arul Kanda did not discount the possibility of the firm being a victim of fraud with "collaboration from our side".

"The shocking loss of US$3.51 billion of funds would have justified the mobilisation of all investigation resources to uncover the truth behind the missing funds.

"However, all we got was a nonchalant response from the finance minister himself that 'it's still too early to conclude if fraud has occurred'," he said.

The problem, according to Pua, is that 1MDB has not even filed a police report for an investigation to take place to uncover Arul's concern.

"And worse, even where some form of investigation was taking place by the auditor-general and the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), 1MDB has failed to provide full cooperation.

"For example, 1MDB refused, despite repeated request by the AG and the PAC over the period of nearly a year, to hand over its bank statements of its overseas accounts, and that of its overseas subsidiaries," he said.

Pua pointed out that when he posed the question to Najib, in his capacity as finance minister, the latter, in a parliamentary reply, merely stated that "all documents in 1MDB's possession and/or those which were accessible and/or those which it was able to obtain have already been handed over to the National Audit Department".

"Najib failed to address the question as to why 1MDB could not have the bank statements re-issued by the respective banks, if the original statements were no longer in its possession.

"Surely, the finance minister would know that missing bank statement could easily be re-printed within a few days at the most?" he said.

Hence, Pua alleged that not only did Najib fail in his responsibility to ensure that the wholly-owned Finance Ministry subsidiary complied fully with the requests by the attorney general and the PAC, but is also providing "lame excuses".

He claimed this indicated that the "prime minister himself is covering up the single-largest fraud in Malaysian history".

"Malaysians cannot be blamed for asking why Najib is trying to protect the criminals behind this heinous heist of the century," he said.

The prime minister has repeatedly denied any involvement in wrongdoings pertaining to 1MDB.