The Myanmar military's commander in chief Min Aung Hlaing says the detention of an Australian adviser to Myanmar's deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi had led to the discovery of secret financial information, ABC reported.

"An attempt to flee the country by the former government's foreign economic adviser, Sean Turnell, was stopped in time and secret state financial information was found through him," state-run television station MRTV quoted the leader as saying.

Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne has called for the release of Professor Turnell.