KUALA LUMPUR, April 30 — National  badminton ace Datuk Lee Chong Wei has requested that the name of the person who gave him the drug that led to his eight-month suspension not be revealed, Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said today.

The Rembau MP said this when asked by reporters if the government was planning to reveal the name of the person who gave Lee cordyceps, a herbal supplement.

“Chong Wei has asked for the name not to be revealed and it doesn’t really affect anything.

“There was no intent to supply him with dextamethasone,” he told a press conference here, referring to the banned substance which was found in Lee’s bloodstream.

Dextamethasone is a drug that prevents inflammation.

Cordyceps is used to treat coughs, chronic bronchitis, respiratory disorders, kidney disorders, nighttime urination, male sexual problems, anemia, irregular heartbeat, high cholesterol, liver disorders, dizziness, weakness, ringing in the ears, unwanted weight loss, and opium addiction.

Khairy suggested that cordyceps is harmless and that Lee’s ban by the Badminton World Federation was only caused by “tainted” capsules that he took prior to the doping test.

“The person has been giving him cordyceps for many many years. It just so happens that this particular batch of cordyceps are tainted with dextamethasone,” he said.

The minister went on to describe the issue as a “freak accident”.

“I think where he bought the cordyceps..grinding the cordycepsz I suppose when they put in the capsules,  that’s when it was tainted with dextamethasone,” he added.

Cordyceps is not a banned substance, Khairy said.

Malay Mail reported yesterday that the National Sports Institute (NSI) is in a spot as its nutritionist was informed by Lee that he was taking cordyceps “but did not find it necessary to have the product tested”.

This was disclosed during the Badminton World Federation (BWF) doping hearing panel on April 11.

The panel had in their judgment stated NSI nutritionist Chai Wen Jin was first aware of the matter when Lee showed her a bottle of the capsules in 2007 or 2008.

NSI chief executive officer Datuk Dr Ramlan Aziz told Malay Mail yesterday an internal inquiry will review all reports to ascertain if Lee was ill-advised. It remains unclear if the supplement is endorsed by the Health Ministry.

The panel was informed Lee had been taking cordyceps since he was 13 “because his mother believed it was beneficial for his health”.

He later obtained the capsules on regular basis as gift from the “wife of a very influential man in Malaysia”, the panel said.

Malay Mail understands the woman is the wife of a former minister.