SUNGAI BESI, May 21 — PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli announced today his plans to kickstart a campaign to shut down troubled investment arm 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), beginning with a civil suit against Lembaga Tabung Haji (LTH), the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), and Retirement Fund Inc (KWAP).

The Pandan lawmaker said he and his National Oversight and Whistleblower group (NOW) hoped to collect RM10 from each depositor with the three funds to set up an independent committee tasked to obtain public feedback on whether or not 1MDB should be shut down, as well as to finance the civil suit that is to be filed on May 29.

“As an NGO that is aware of issues involving public funds like this, NOW is taking the initiative to work with other MPs and kickstart a campaign and a joint action with the aim of stopping public funds’ flow into 1MDB,” Rafizi said.

The campaign will be called “Shut Down 1MDB, Return the People’s Money”.

Last night, Rafizi told a ceramah here that he was starting the legal action because the three bodies’ dealings with troubled 1MDB involve public funds.

He explained that the lawsuits were to press Putrajaya to be more transparent and accountable with the use of public funds.

Rafizi said today the campaign against 1MDB would focus on all the major cities to increase participation.

The first briefing on the campaign will held on June 3 in his constituency of Pandan and he said he has invited representatives from LTH, KWAP and EPF to join him.

Rafizi said he would file the suit in his capacity as an EPF and LT depositor. The injunction against KWAP, on the other hand, will be filed by PKR Sungai Petani MP Datuk Johari Abdul and former Machang PKR MP Datuk Saifuddin Nasution.

“NOW is confident that our proactive measures will ensure the public’s deposits in these funds will not be used to settle 1MDB’s financial scandal,” he said.

The Finance Ministry revealed on Tuesday that KWAP and EPF have invested nearly RM3 billion in 1MDB.

KWAP, which manages pensions for the civil service, is Malaysia’s second-largest pension fund after EPF — a compulsory retirement fund for private sector workers.

The civil service pension fund recently came under fire from opposition lawmakers over a RM4 billion government-guaranteed loan to SRC International Sdn Bhd, a former subsidiary of debt-laden 1MDB.