All reports made to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) should be kept confidential, a member of its advisory board said today.

"The report is confidential and investigations are also confidential," the board member, former judge Mohd Noor Abdullah, told a press conference at the Anti-Corruption Prevention Academy in Kuala Lumpur.

"What is being investigated by the MACC and the exact report by the complainant cannot be revealed except to another senior MACC officer, a deputy public prosecutor or to the Attorney-General's Chambers.

"It is very dangerous for MACC to release information on the report as well as on investigations on the report," Mohd Noor stressed.

He said this when asked for comments on news reports quoting an MACC source that the anti-graft body had frozen RM2 million in bank accounts belonging to Penang state-executive councillor Phee Boon Poh.

This was said to be done in connection with investigations into alleged letters issued by Phee’s office to halt action against an illegal carbon filtering factory in Bukit Mertajam.

Phee, who denied the news reports, was arrested on Aug 10 but later freed after the High Court in Penang overturned his five-day remand order initially issued by a magistrate’s court in George Town on Aug 12.

Former inspector-general of police Musa Hassan, who was also present, said no one should highlight matters which are still under investigation by the authorities.

"When you highlight the investigation, some of the things may be inaccurate," he said, to which Mohd Noor concurred, citing reports of MACC's investigations into purchases of hotels overseas.

"For example reports that Felda had purchased hotels overseas at inflated prices. Who said so?

"One person will say the price was inflated to pass the profit to another party. But when you ask the other party, they said they did not receive the money," Mohd Noor said, arguing that news reports should be based on facts rather than speculations.