As Putrajaya comes under fire over claims that more than US$1 billion of 1MDB funds were misappropriated, revealed through a third filing by the US Department of Justice (DOJ), but for Communications and Multimedia Minister Salleh Said Keruak, the lawsuit is a form of interference.

This sort of interference, he said, would have been roundly condemned by now opposition strongman Dr Mahathir Mohamad when he as prime minister.

"The problem with the US DOJ's announcement on June, however, plus the first one on July 20, 2016 is that their statement is not confirmed to the subject matter: which is about an alleged crime committed on US soil.

"A large part of the DOJ statement talks about what is happening internally in Malaysia, and an even larger part has no relevance to the subject of whether a crime has been committed on US soil as alleged," he said in a statement.