PUTRAJAYA, July 9 ― The new government will not hide Public Accounts Committee (PAC) reports under the Official Secrets Act (OSA), said Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Dr Mahathir also questioned why cases of obvious corruption were placed under the Act when the former government was in power.

"If the three reports submitted by institutions recognised by the government showed no wrongdoing by the prime minister, then why is there a need for it to be put under the OSA?” he asked, after chairing a special Cabinet committee on anti-corruption here.

"Normally you cannot hide reports like that, especially Public Accounts Committee reports, the public should know, but this was hidden.”

"This sort of thing cannot be done now,” he stressed.

Dr Mahathir was referring to reports the government previously received by several institutions including one from the auditor-general over the alleged misappropriation of funds from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

In 2016, the final 1MDB audit report was classified under the Act.

On May 12, the report was made public.