KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 8 — PKR’s Nurul Izzah Anwar said today that she has initiated legal action against Umno-linked papers the New Straits Times (NST) and sister publication Berita Harian over their reports quoting former PetroSaudi International (PSI) executive Xavier Andre Justo as saying that the PKR lawmaker had offered to buy stolen 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) data from him.

The English-language and Malay-language dailies respectively, which are published by The New Straits Times Press (NSTP) owned by the Media Prima media group, reported Justo as saying in a written confession that he had rejected Nurul Izzah’s alleged offer to buy the information on the state investment firm for US$2 million, in the form of future government contracts should Barisan Nasional (BN) lose power, as he had wanted cash.

“For the record, I categorically deny that I have ever offered US$2 million to Justo in future government contracts when the opposition came into power. I have never met him before,” Nurul Izzah said in a statement.

“The NST and Berita Harian have front-paged this complete lie in a sensationalised manner, and without any regard as to whether there is any truth in the allegations. I have accordingly instructed my solicitors to commence legal proceedings against the NST and Berita Harian,” the Lembah Pantai MP and PKR vice-president added.

NST also reported today Justo as saying that Clare Rewcastle-Brown, editor of London-based whistleblower site Sarawak Report, had acted as the intermediary between him and Nurul Izzah.

Justo pled guilty last month in Thailand to a charge of attempting to blackmail Saudi-based PSI over purportedly incriminating documents and was sentenced to three years’ jail.

Nurul Izzah stressed today that the issue was not about Justo’s theft of documents, but what the documents, together with reports by US-based paper the Wall Street Journal, Sarawak Report, and local business paper The Edge, said about corruption allegations surrounding 1MDB.

“Question 1: 1MDB borrowed RM42 billion...using sovereign guarantees of the Malaysian government. What have they got to show for it?

“Question 2: How did more than US$1 billion belonging to the PetroSaudi-1MDB joint venture end up in Jho Low’s companies’ accounts?

“Question 3: The RM2.6 billion (US$700 million), which was deposited in the prime minister’s personal account. Was it really from the so-called donor from the Middle East or was it the 1MDB billions returning full circle?” she said.

Nurul Izzah said such questions could be answered by Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s bank accounts and the 1MDB money trail and that this was why PKR had filed for the discovery of documents in its suit against the prime minister over allegations of financial misappropriation involving 1MDB.

Among others, the suit seeks access to Najib’s monthly bank statements from 2009, receipt of RM2.6 billion from Tanore Finance Corp into his personal accounts, receipt of RM42 million from SRC International Sdn Bhd into his personal accounts, documents, minutes, correspondence, records and agreements on SRC’s RM4 billion loan from Retirement Fund Incorporated, as well as all monthly bank statements for 1MDB and its subsidiaries accounts both in and out of the country.

The Wall Street Journal reported last July that almost US$700 million was moved around companies linked to 1MDB before it ended up in Najib’s personal bank accounts in March 2013, two months before the 13th general election.

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission has, however, said that the money did not come from 1MDB, but from Middle Eastern donors that it did not identify.