The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has been urged to apologise to its former director Bahri Mohd Zin and the public for allegedly making a false statement.

Dr Mahathir Mohamad's lawyer Haniff Khatri Abdulla was commenting on Bahri's denial that MACC's media unit had contacted him over his remark concerning the probe into SRC International.

"It is clear in Bahri's statement that the media unit or any other parties, such as the commission, never contacted him for explanation," said Haniff in a Facebook posting.

Thus, he accused MACC of giving a "false and misleading statement" over the matter.

On Wednesday, Bahri confirmed having opted for early retirement due to frustration over the SRC International Sdn Bhd case.

SRC, a former 1MDB subsidiary now placed under the Finance Ministry, came under the spotlight after RM42 million of its money was found in Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's personal bank account.

Najib's account received the SRC funds in two transactions - on Dec 26, 2014 and Feb 10, 2015 - after being routed through two companies, Gandingan Mentari Sdn Bhd and Ihsan Perdana Sdn Bhd.

Najib has reportedly claimed to be unaware about the money from SRC, and attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali has also cleared him of any wrongdoing in the matter.

Responding to Bahri, MACC said it had contacted him and claimed the latter did not mention disappointment over the SRC case as the reason for his early retirement, as reported.

Bahri, who was the former special operations division chief, has since denied he was contacted by MACC's media unit for comment.

He retired on Jan 2, two years ahead of his official retirement. He had served in the MACC as well as its precursor, the Anti-Corruption Agency, for over 30 years.