Dr Mahathir Mohamad dropped a cryptic bombshell over the weekend that the three Tan Sri accused of plotting against Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak were betrayed by one among them.
Otherwise, he claimed, Najib would have faced action by now.
Mahathir was responding to the accusation by Umno Youth vice-chief Khairul Azwan Harun that the former premier was part of the alleged plot.
Sharing his views on the matter, veteran politician Lim Kit Siang wondered if the alleged conspiracy was against the prime minister, or the top officials.
"Was there a national conspiracy involving the three Tan Sri to topple Najib as prime minister in July last year, before Najib launched his high-level government purges, involving the sacking of the deputy prime minister and attorney-general?"
"Or was there a national conspiracy to prevent the top officials from carrying out their duties under the law?" he asked in a media statement.
Last month, Khairul filed a police report against the three Tan Sri - former Bank Negara governor Zeti Akthar Aziz, former attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail and former Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief Abu Kassim Mohamad.
He accused the trio of providing classified information to foreign agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), without authorisation.
Khairul also alleged that the three could have falsified the information to achieve their agenda.
However, inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar later said no action would be taken because the Umno Youth leader's report was based on assumptions.
Meanwhile, Lim also recounted his earlier remarks where he pointed out that on the same day Gani was removed as attorney-general, a website appeared which accused top officers in government, especially key officers in the special task force on 1MDB, of involvement in an international conspiracy to topple the elected government of Malaysia.
"The first posting of this new website entitled 'Ops Lalang 2015: Special Branch leads investigation into conspirators' named 13 people on a list of conspirators to be investigated under Section 124 of the Penal Code which carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison.
"I have just checked and found this website is still available on the Internet, indicative that those responsible for putting up this website about a national conspiracy to topple Najib as prime minister have, like Khairul, powerful patronage who need not worry about the law or top government officers," he said.
Lim asked if Malaysians would ever know if there was a conspiracy to topple Najib or to subvert the legal process and rule of law.
"Or whether the revival of the story of a national conspiracy to topple Najib as prime minister is to distract national and international attention from the question: 'Who is Malaysian Official 1'?" he added.
