Senior Umno leaders may have distanced themselves from Khairul Azwan Harun’s claim that three top enforcement officers were out to topple the prime minister, but the Umno Youth deputy chief today touted the ‘conspiracy’ to the Umno grassroots.

Speaking at the opening of the Teluk Kemang Umno wings divisional meeting in Port Dickson today, Khairul defended the police report he lodged against former Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission chief Abu Kassim Mohamed, former Bank Negara governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz and former attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail.

Azwan said when he lodged the police report on July 26, former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad was gathering a group of international media in Jakarta, Indonesia with the intention of attacking Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

“On the same day, I heard that Abdul Gani, Zeti and Abu Kassim were supposed to be present at a special press conference where they were expected to speak about the report made by the US Department of Justice (DOJ).

“The press conference was to be recorded and the clip forwarded to Mahathir in Jakarta. He was planning to share it with the rest of the international media who came for the interview session,” Azwan was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times.

As such, Azwan said his police report thwarted this plan which was aimed at bringing down Najib.

Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin and Najib had sought to distance themselves after the police report, stating that it was done in Azwan’s personal capacity and had nothing to do with the party.

Inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar also said the police will not investigate the matter as Azwan admitted that it was based on hearsay after being questioned by police.

However, a defiant Azwan has repeatedly insisted that his police report served its purpose and was a “success”.

Abu Kassim, Zeti and Abdul Gani oversaw the investigation into the multi-billion deposits in Najib’s personal bank accounts.

Abdul Gani was removed midway through the investigations, while Abu Kassim and Zeti have since retired.

New attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali has cleared Najib of wrongdoing.

The DOJ claimed that more than US$3.5 billion was stolen from 1MDB and at least US$731 million was transferred to the bank accounts of an unnamed ‘Malaysian Official 1'.