KUALA LUMPUR • Umno Youth's vice-chief Khairul Azwan Harun has filed a police report against three former senior government officials, accusing them of a conspiracy to topple Prime Minister Najib Razak and the Malaysian government, with questions raised over whether youth wing chief Khairy Jamaluddin backed the move.

Mr Khairul, the third most senior leader of the youth wing, made the police report on Tuesday against former Bank Negara governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz, outgoing Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission chief Abu Kassim Mohamed and former attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail.

Dr Zeti and Tan Sri Abu Kassim said they are consulting their lawyers, while Tan Sri Abdul Gani called the police report a "publicity stunt" by the youth wing.

Mr Khairul, in asking the police to investigate the matter, claimed the three former officials provided confidential information to foreign agencies, including the United States' Federal Bureau of Investigation, with regard to the scandal surrounding state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

The US Justice Department last week filed civil suits to seize US$1 billion (S$1.36 billion) worth of assets it believes were embezzled from 1MDB by Datuk Seri Najib's stepson Riza Aziz and former confidant Jho Low.

Mr Khairul's move raised eyebrows in the media as youth wing chief Khairy, the country's Youth and Sports Minister, has largely stayed under the radar in the one-year-old 1MDB scandal engulfing Mr Najib.

Police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said yesterday that he wanted to know the basis of Mr Khairul's claims before proceeding further.

Meanwhile, the Goldman Sachs group, which played a major role in helping 1MDB raise money through bond issues, was sued in New York on Tuesday by a major shareholder of a Malaysian bank it once advised.

Primus Pacific Partners has accused Goldman and its former star banker Tim Leissner of fraudulently short-changing EON Capital in 2010 when EON was sold to Hong Leong Bank, which had financial ties to Mr Najib's brothers.

Primus "previously lost its challenge in the Malaysian courts seeking to stop a transaction involving a Malaysian company, which was then approved by shareholders", said Goldman spokesman Andrew Williams. "We will vigorously contest this misguided additional lawsuit in New York court."

THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK, NEW YORK TIMES