Zaid Ibrahim revealed that his lawyers in Australia agreed to take up a case against the ANZ Bank to recover the RM2.6 billion, which he insisted was misappropriated from 1MDB despite Malaysian authorities claiming otherwise.

“If successful, I would use the compensation for activities that would enable the people to think in a rational manner.

“Elections are only useful when the people think instead of dreaming all the time,” he said in a Twitter posting, without elaborating.

In a blog posting on April 23, the former law minister disclosed that he had travelled to Sydney the week before to instruct Levitt Robinson Solicitors to explore the possibility of suing ANZ Bank.

Zaid said ANZ was managing AmBank at the material time and is still a shareholder of AmBank in Malaysia.

“I believe ANZ was responsible, either directly or indirectly, for the laundering of money that belongs to the people of this country.

“This is my last bit of contribution before May 9, 2018,” he added in reference to the 14th general election.

Zaid said he wanted the case to be placed before the Australian court with the commitment that, should any funds be awarded by way of damages from ANZ Bank, the court would supervise its use wholly and exclusively for the benefit of Malaysia's poor.

“This includes providing better education, more scholarships and better social services, the very ones 1MDB was meant to finance,” he added.

The former minister said he also attempted to get AmBank to disclose the statement of accounts where the money from 1MDB was remitted to so that it could be established if it went to caretaker prime minister Najib Abdul Razak's accounts or if the sum came from a Saudi royalty.

“But they all said that I had no locus standi as I was not a shareholder or a director of 1MDB,” he added.

Najib has denied abusing public funds for personal gain and blamed such allegations on those conspiring to topple him from power.

He also described the RM2.6 billion in his account as a donation from a Saudi royalty, which was confirmed by attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali, who cleared Najib of any wrongdoing.

1MDB has also maintained that its funds were not stolen and claimed to be the victim of a concerted politically-motivated attack.