Universiti Malaya is taking action against four student activists who held up anti-1MDB placards during a town hall event last October featuring the firm's boss, Arul Kanda Kandasamy.

The students from the UM Association of New Youth (Umany) are facing three charges each.

Umany's deputy president Tan Jia You, its publicity bureau head Chua Hun Ti and and secretary-general Lau Li Yang are being accused of being undisciplined, disrupting public order and inciting or participating in a boycott of an official university function.

Former president Umany Ho Chi Yang (photo) was accused of being undisciplined, disrupting public order and disturbing an official university function.

If found guilty by UM's disciplinary committee, the four can be fined up to RM200, suspended, or expelled.

Their disciplinary hearing will begin on Jan 18.

In a statement today, Umany accused UM of trying to settle a score.

The four had held up placards reading “Students want answers”, “1MDB don’t spin”, “1MDB – We want answers”, and "1MDB - Return the people’s money" on the night of Oct 11 last year.

The students were quickly set upon by several men who tore the placards away from them, and they received an immediate rebuke from the event’s host, Tun Faisal Ismail Aziz, it was learnt.

During the town hall event, Arul Kanda had explained the 1MDB scandal to students, claiming among others that Deloitte Malaysia had quit as the firm's auditor because it could not complete the 2015 audit.