Electoral reform group Bersih today expressed shock over a Wall Street Journal ( WSJ ) report claiming that 1MDB's funds was used for election campaigning through intermediaries.

"The WSJ report comes as a revolting truth of how the 13th general election was stolen from the people of Malaysia," its steering committee said in a statement today.

Bersih said the WSJ report implied that 1MDB may have been used as a government-controlled election slush fund for Umno.

"This is totally outrageous and an abuse of power because brazen dirty tactics have been used to manipulate voters’ trust.

"It also raised the issue of whether this is just the tip of the iceberg. Are there any other government-controlled money used in similar manner?" it said.

Bersih also lay blame on the Election Commission (EC), stating that it had failed to bring necessary reforms to rein in "unfettered abuse and corruption".

"Prime Minister Najib Razak must refute this report or resign, otherwise he loses his legitimacy to stay in power.

"We also call upon Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to investigate into the WSJ report, as well as the prime minister and all those involved including top executives from the Genting Berhad Group involved in the allegations.

Yesterday, WSJ claimed that 1MDB's funds were used to bankroll the general election by having the Finance Ministry-owned company to make an overpriced purchase of power assets from a subsidiary of Genting Group in 2012.

Genting then made a donation to a charity foundation Yayasan Rakyat 1Malaysia by Najib, said the report.

WSJ said the "donations" to Yayasan Rakyat 1Malaysia (YR1M) were then poured into the election campaign in Penang for BN's bid to recapture the state.

Malaysiakini has contacted the Prime Minister' Office, YR1M, Genting Group and 1MDB and is awaiting their response.