This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on April 14, 2017

KUALA LUMPUR: Opposition lawmaker Mohd Rafizi Ramli has named former PAS deputy president Dr Nasharudin Mat Isa as the person who allegedly received funds from SRC International Sdn Bhd, which was a subsidiary of troubled state investment fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).

Mohd Rafizi, a PKR vice-president and the member of parliament for Pandan, said in a press conference yesterday the monies belonging to 1MDB were transferred to Nasharudin from the personal banking account of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

According to Mohd Rafizi, the information was conveyed to him by a retired Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) senior official on Jan 28.

“This matter has elements of abuse of power that can be investigated under various laws if the payment was gratification for silencing PAS in scandals such as 1MDB and transfers to Prime Minister [Datuk Seri] Najib Razak’s account,” Mohd Rafizi said in a 41-minute video posted on his Facebook account yesterday.

Mohd Rafizi, who read out a statutory declaration on the matter, said he would lodge a report at the MACC office in Putrajaya this morning.

“I am more than happy to go through a legal process in this case because then I will be able to drag 1MDB into the court if whatever I have said in the statutory declaration is found to be false,” Mohd Rafizi said, declining to disclose the sums involved as the MACC is aware of the details.

Nasharudin is the executive chairman and chief executive officer of the Global Movement of Moderates Foundation, which is the brainchild of the Najib administration. He is also its current patron.

Multiple investigations have been carried out into claims of financial irregularities involving 1MDB, including an unspecified sum from SRC International that was transferred into Najib’s personal bank account. In January last year, Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohd Apandi Ali cleared the prime minister of wrongdoing in the matter.

However, Najib in a 2016 written parliamentary reply said: “SRC International has no information about this issue and the matter is based on a report from a portal with [an] unverified source of news.”

Last month, Najib said SRC International was looking for a new auditor, following the resignation of Deloitte.

In 2011, SRC International borrowed US$1 billion from Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (Diperbadankan) — a retirement fund that relies on contributions from 1.6 million civil servants — to fund strategic overseas investments in energy resources.

The repayment amount is expected to balloon to US$158 million next year and almost US$230 million in 2018.