The rally was planned to mark the end of a nationwide tour by the opposition coalition on the alleged embezzlement of state-owned 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) funds.
“A grand ‘eliminate kleptocracy’ rally will be held on Oct 14,” DAP publicity chief Tony Pua said at a ceramah held by the opposition coalition here tonight.
“The venue will be announced later,” he added.
Present were former prime minister and PPBM chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad, PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang, and Amanah president Mohamad Sabu, among others.
Pua’s announcement comes barely a month after opposition parties announced they were organising a two-month road show across the country to ensure the claims made in the United States Department of Justice’s (DoJ) civil lawsuits related to 1MDB were made known to the people.
The campaign, which the opposition has dubbed “Sayangkan Malaysia Hapuskan Kleptokrasi” (Love Malaysia, End Kleptocracy), started on July 6 in Kepala Batas, Penang, and will end with a protest rally.
In its court filing in California on June 5, the DoJ sought to seize US$540 million (RM2.3 billion) in assets, including artworks, jewellery, a luxury yacht and film rights purchased with funds allegedly embezzled from 1MDB.
The assets named in the applications included the film rights to the two comedies “Dumb and Dumber To” starring Jim Carrey and “Daddy’s Home” featuring Will Ferrell.
The action follows last July’s civil forfeiture suit by the DoJ which sought to recover all the assets including but not limited to the Park Lane Hotel in New York, a luxury hotel in Beverly Hills, condominiums in New York, a private jet and expensive works of art, as well as finances related to Martin Scorsese’s movie “The Wolf of Wall Street”, starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
If the rally does indeed proceed, it will not be the first time a gathering linked to the state investment fund has been held.
The “Tangkap MO1” rally, organised at Dataran Merdeka by a coalition of student and youth groups on Aug 27 last year, saw some 1,000 participants calling for the arrest of “Malaysian Official 1” or “MO1” named in the first DoJ civil suit linked to 1MDB.