Former deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has claimed that he did not know about MACC's appeal to act against then-prime minister Najib Abdul Razak on the 1MDB matter when BN was still the federal government.

"It was not part of the information that I had," Zahid told a press conference at the Umno headquarters in Kuala Lumpur today.

He said this when asked to respond to new MACC chief Mohd Shukri Abdull's revelation earlier today that he had appealed to several government ministers to act against Najib over the 1MDB scandal.

Shukri – then the MACC deputy commissioner of operations – said at his press conference that the RM2.6 billion in Najib's personal bank account was linked to 1MDB, and that there is no evidence that it was a "donation", as Najib claims.

He said he and his men were pressured to drop the investigation and threatened with arrests, prompting him to appeal to ministers as well as to the Conference of Rulers.

"Only three ministers dared to speak up. They were Muhyiddin Yassin, Mohd Shafie Apdal and Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah," Shukri added.

Muhyiddin and Shafie were both axed by Najib in July 2015. Husni resigned almost a year later from the cabinet, but denied it was linked to the investment firm.

Muhyiddin and Shafie later set up their own parties to challenge Najib in the May 9 general election, and are now part of the new Pakatan Harapan government.

Husni later tried to get back into Najib's good books and was allowed to defend his parliamentary seat of Tambun, but was defeated in the polls.

Zahid, when asked about the matter, also turned to Umno vice-president Hishammuddin Hussein on his right and secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor on his left and asked: "Did you meet (MACC)?"

Neither said anything, but merely wore facial expressions appearing to shrug off the matter.

Hishamuddin was defence minister at the time, and Tengku Adnan the Federal Territories minister.

The MACC investigation on Najib was eventually scuttled, with Shukri being forced into early retirement.

The new Pakatan Harapan government has recalled Shukri to lead the MACC and vowed to resolve the 1MDB scandal.