He said KPMG Malaysia must also be excluded from taking part in government tenders until the lawsuit has been settled.

“The failure by an auditor to exercise professionalism in their duties to protect Malaysian taxpayers is an extremely serious matter,” the DAP national publicity secretary said in a statement today.

“Therefore, an example must be set to ensure no other auditor of government entities will ever behave in the same way, contributing to making Malaysia the world’s largest kleptocracy as a result of the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal.”

It was reported earlier this month that Putrajaya and 1MDB had filed a US$5.64 billion (RM23.63 billion) lawsuit against 44 partners of KPMG Malaysia over alleged negligence and breach of contract in its audit of 1MDB’s financial statements from 2010 to 2012.

Of the US$5.64 billion, the sum of US$3.197 billion was misappropriated in 2010, 2011 and 2012 when KPMG was the auditor for 1MDB.

The plaintiffs are claiming losses over breaches that KPMG’s partners allegedly committed in their role as auditor for 1MDB.

They also said KPMG had failed to bring to light matters relating to discrepancies in 1MDB’s joint venture deal with PetroSaudi International, and that none of the misappropriations under Najib’s directions were reported by KPMG during the time it acted as auditor for 1MDB.

The case will be fixed for mention on Aug 6 before the High Court.

Pua said he fully supported the government’s suit against KPMG for its role in the 1MDB scandal, adding that he had questioned the delay in taking such legal action for many months.

“The government had been attempting to arrive at a settlement with KPMG for the longest time and it was clear that the auditors with the global ‘Top 4’ branding were unwilling to meet the demands set by the government,” he said.