The former rural and regional development minister in Najib’s cabinet said his frequent criticisms of the financial scandal should not be misconstrued as a coup attempt by him and several other leaders.

“How can Muhyiddin (Yassin) and I be accused of trying to topple Najib? He was our party president.

“These claims are nothing but mere speculation,” Shafie told FMT after attending Warisan’s annual general meeting today.

In his book, Final Reckoning: An Insider’s View of the Fall of Malaysia’s Barisan Nasional Government, Bose claimed that Najib was on the verge of being ousted via an unlawful arrest by “three Tan Sris”, who were aided by several other leaders, while chairing a Cabinet meeting on July 29, 2015.

The “three Tan Sris” were identified as former central bank governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz, former attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail, and former Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission chief commissioner Abu Kassim Mohamed.

Bose also claimed that Shafie, who left Umno to form Warisan after he was removed from the Cabinet at the end of July 2015, and Muhyiddin were the masterminds behind the coup plot.

Najib eventually foiled the coup attempt a day before the Cabinet meeting, according to Bose.

Zeti and Gani were part of a special task force investigating claims made by the Wall Street Journal and Sarawak Report that Najib had misappropriated 1MDB funds, while Kassim was the adviser to the special task force.