Newly appointed MACC chief commissioner Mohd Shukri Abdull revealed that the police wanted to arrest him for conspiring against the government back in 2015.

"MACC has its own intelligence squad.

“When he (former attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail) was sacked, I received information that I would be arrested for a 'conspiracy to topple the government'," he said.

Shukri, who was speaking at a press conference at the MACC headquarters in Putrajaya today, said this was in relation to the investigation into the RM2.6 billion in former premier Najib Abdul Razak's bank accounts.

Gani was then heading a task force probing the issue. Midway during the probe, he was removed from his post on health reasons and replaced with Mohamed Apandi Ali.

An emotional Shukri said all he and his former boss Abu Kassim Mohamed wanted to do was retrieve stolen funds.

"We fought for the people to get back money that was stolen, but we were accused of being traitors," he said.

Shukri said after learning of the plans to arrest him, he flew to Washington DC on July 31, 2015, while at the same time spreading misinformation that he would be going to Saudi Arabia.

After arriving in Washington DC, he then went to New York where he was placed under police protection.

Earlier, Shukri said that prior to Gani's dismissal, the MACC had a meeting with the then attorney-general on July 27.

"Tan Sri (Gani) asked me, 'Are you ready?'. As a senior investigator, I understood what he meant.

"He said on Wednesday we will execute (our plans). I said 'Yes I am ready'.

"But the next day on Tuesday, I was having a meeting in Kuala Lumpur when I received news that Gani had been terminated," Shukri said.

Last week, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said Gani had told him that there were plans to charge Najib over the 1MDB scandal.

Malaysiakini, in the weeks leading up to Najib's purge on cabinet members and agency heads who stood against him in the 1MDB scandal, had also highlighted key events that appeared intended to scuttle the investigation.

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