Information on corrupt practices received through poison pen letters was down by 74 percent in the last six months, said the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission's (MACC) operations evaluation panel chairperson Hadenan Abdul Jalil.

He said the MACC received nearly 12,000 tip-offs from the public through different mediums each year, with about 3,600 of them via poison pen letters.

"This drop is a good sign. People now prefer to lodge official complaints.

"At least this saves our officers' time from investigating wild accusations," he said after chairing a panel meeting at the Johor MACC headquarters in Johor Baru today.

Hadenan said the number of official complaints received by the MACC from January to June this year also dropped to 4,295 from 6,131 during the same period last year.

From the number, only 50 percent of the complaints had elements of corruption while the rest had nothing to do with the MACC, he said.

"Perhaps this is because of MACC's better image, making the people trust its investigations more than that carried out by other bodies."

Hadenan also said that he was satisfied with the various transformations made by the MACC in combating corruption.

He said the establishment of 14 special courts to hear corruption cases had a positive impact as more individuals including senior government officers had been taken to court for corrupt practices.

"However, the MACC cannot work alone. We need the support of various parties, especially the public, to check this menace," he added.

- Bernama