Those involved in making payments from 1MDB to an allegedly fake Aabar company should be investigated and arrested, Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua said today.

"We demand that the Royal Malaysian Police act immediately to investigate and arrest all parties involved in this massive scam, aptly termed 'the Heist of the Century' by the Sarawak Report ," Pua said in a statement.

He said this when commenting on the announcement by the International Petroleum Investment Co (IPIC) and Aabar Investments PJS that they do not have any links with a British Virgin Islands-incorporated firm dubbed Aabar Investments PJS Limited (Aabar BVI).

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) had last week also said there was no evidence that Aabar BVI, named Aabar Ltd in its report, had links to IPIC or Aabar Investment PJS.

1MDB had paid RM4.24 billion (about US$1.367 billion) to Aabar BVI as security deposits in 2012, without the approval of 1MDB's board of directors.

The company had questioned the timing of IPIC’s announcement yesterday.

However, Pua ( photo ) said it was timely.

"The timing of IPIC’s announcement isn’t surprising because Reuters had recently reported that two key former IPIC and Aabar officials, Khadem Al Qubaisi and Mohamed Badawy Al Husseiny, have been arrested by the Abu Dhabi authorities."

The DAP lawmaker also said 1MDB's slithering around the issue was highly suspect.

"It is crystal clear that there are parties in 1MDB that have acted in cahoots with IPIC’s former top officials to scam Malaysians of billions of dollars," Pua said.

Besides the US$1.367 billion, it was reported that 1MDB had paid another US$993 million to Aabar in 2014 to cancel options given to IPIC to buy a stake in 1MDB’s power plants.

The Wall Street Journal had reported that IPIC never received this US$2.4 billion, according to the company’s officials.

1MDB, on the other hand, insisted that it stands by its financial statements, which showed that 1MDB had made the payments.