He claimed that this would be done through an inflated contract for the proposed East Coast railway, as alleged by Sarawak Report. The government has denied that the project was discussed by the Cabinet.

In a statement today, Pua urged the Cabinet to put a stop to the purported contract immediately. The contract is alleged to be for RM60 billion, or double the project cost.

The Sarawak Report website claimed earlier that the inflated contract would be used to pay off 1MDB’s debts and that the project was to be approved by the Cabinet last Wednesday.

However, on Wednesday, works minister Fadillah Yusof dismissed the report and said: “It was never discussed in Cabinet.”

In today’s statement, Pua repeated the details of Sarawak Report’s allegations and quoted from images of purported documents relating to the contract. He said he had demanded that the prime minister, Najib Razak, confirm or deny the report. He said Najib had remained conspicuously silent.

He said Najib’s silence would convince Malaysians that another bailout was in the works.

“Malaysia does not need another money-laundering scandal investigated by authorities all around the world to further sully our rapidly diminishing reputation,” he said.