KUALA LUMPUR: Senior Umno lawmaker Datuk Seri Tajuddin Abdul Rahman says he will support a motion to cite the former Prime Minister for misleading Parliament.

Tajuddin (BN-Pasir Salak) said this when he challenged Tony Pua (PH-Damansara) to move a motion to cite Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak for allegedly lying and misleading the Dewan Rakyat over the cost of the Light Rail Transit 3 (LRT3) project.

“I request the Speaker to ask Yang Berhormat (Pua) to move a motion that Pekan (Najib) had lied and misled Parliament.

“If he (Najib) lied, I will support it (the motion),” he said when interjecting Pua, who was debating the motion of thanks on the Royal Address in the Dewan Rakyat on Thursday (July 19).

Pua said that the actual cost of the LRT3 was RM31.6bil and not RM9bil as claimed by Najib.

However, he added that Najib had made the statement outside Parliament and not in the August Hall.

“If he (Najib) comes to Dewan and says that the cost is RM9bil, I will immediately move a motion to cite him,” Pua said.

Tajuddin then stood up and kept on challenging Pua, but was ordered by Speaker Datuk Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof to sit down.

Earlier, Pua said that the RM9bil cost for the LRT3 was only the construction cost which did not include additional land acquisition cost and fees.

He added that Prasarana Malaysia had admitted that the cost of the proposed LRT3 was RM31.6bil.

Following a review of the project, he said the Pakatan Harapan Government managed to reduce the proposed LRT3 project by RM16.6bil.

He said this helped save RM15bil for the Government, which would translate in lower fares for commuters in the future.

Earlier, Pua called on political parties to return the RM470mil which they had received from money misappropriated from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

He said that political parties should return the money to the Government, as they now cannot claim ignorance as to where the money came from.