Pakatan Harapan chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad has reportedly urged Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to raise the 1MDB scandal with Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

According to The Australian today, the two would meet at an Asean summit next week.

It said Mahathir had told the newspaper in a written exchange that Turnbull should “definitely” raise the 1MDB issue with Najib, and should also “speak the truth if he knows of certain facts” on the issue.

“He must be willing to divulge to the right authorities - whether it is the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the US Department of Justice (DOJ) or the MACC even,” Mahathir reportedly said.

“He should not hide what he knows, but it should not be done out of spite… only to reveal the truth.”

According to the Asean 2018 official website, the main Asean Summit will be held in Singapore starting on April 25, which is almost two months away. However, there are several related events next week, including the Asean-Australia Special Summit in Sydney on March 17 and 18.

The report by The Australian today comes after the newspaper published a report yesterday saying Turnbull’s son, Alex Turnbull (photo), had been sidelined from his executive position at Goldman Sachs in Singapore after blowing the whistle on allegedly dodgy deals involving 1MDB.

He was quoted saying that he had raised concerns about the US$6 billion of bonds raised for 1MDB in 2012 and 2013 and the lack of clarity in the offer documents on how the money raised would be spent. Alex was reportedly not involved in organising the bonds.

For his trouble, he reportedly got a “talking to” from Goldman Sach’s compliance division and was subsequently “B-tracked”, resulting in his resignation in 2014.

According to the US Department of Justice in its filings at a California court, a 2012 bond offer underwritten by Goldman Sachs was one of three phases in the misappropriation and laundering of 1MDB funds.

The Malaysian government had countered that no money is missing from 1MDB. Malaysiakini is unable to independently verify claims published in The Australian.

In a separate statement later, DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang said the 1MDB scandal should be an agenda in the Asean summit.

"This should be done to discuss how justice could be restored to the 30 million Malaysians who are the real victims of the world's worst kleptocracy." 

Meanwhile, the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) reported today that Alex would not comment on The Australian article that quoted him on his concerns about 1MDB, but reportedly said he was misquoted.

However, the report noted that an internet user claiming to be Alex had made similar claims on the blog realpolitikasia earlier this month.

The SMH said Alex would not comment on the blog or whether he would take legal action against The Australian or the blog.