Parliament has turned down a question filed by PKR Alor Setar parliamentarian Gooi Hsiao Leung on the individuals listed in the leaked Panama Papers.

This is because the question posed to the House is not based on a report, Dewan Rakyat secretary Roosme Hamzah said in quoting the Standing Orders.

"A question shall not be asked as to whether statements in the press or of private individuals or financial bodies are accurate," she explained in a letter to Gooi dated May 13.

Gooi asked if the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), Inland Revenue Board (IRB) or Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) have launched an investigation into the revelations in the Panama Papers.

"If yes, please furnish the full details and forms of investigation," Gooi said in his question.

What the Panama Papers had revealed (about the offshore accounts of individuals) was important as it had linked the names to a few leaders, Gooi said at Parliament lobby.

"Both Iceland Prime Minister (Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson) and British Prime Minister (David Cameron) were foced to explain openly over the alleged offshore accounts," he said.

Cameron has admitted that he had profited from his father’s offshore accounts.

Gunnlaugsson was forced to step down after he and his wealthy wife were alleged to have set up a company in the British Virgin Islands.

"We do not want (to see) Parliament unable to debate this important issue and (therefore) preventing it from being answered in the House," he added.

Mohd Nazifuddin Mohd Najib, the son of the prime minister, was named in the Panama Papers.

Also named were Fakhri Yassin, the eldest son of former deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin, and Mirzan Mahathir, the son of former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.