Putrajaya satisfied with Zahid’s explanation on letter to FBI

Minister in the Prime Minister's Deparment Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim told Parliament today that the government accepts Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi's explanation for writing a letter to the FBI, vouching for a Malaysian suspected of being a gambling kingpin. – The Malaysian Insider pic, March 18, 2015.Putrajaya is generally "satisfied" and accepted Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi's explanation on his role in writing a letter to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) vouching for alleged Malaysian gambling kingpin Paul Phua Wei Seng.

In his written reply to Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Gelang Patah), Minister in the Prime Minister's Deparment Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim said, however, the government has never protected or defended any criminals, regardless if they are Malaysians or foreigners.

He said this in reply to Lim's question, who had asked why action was not taken against the home minister who had declared Phua as not a member of the Hong Kong 14K triad and that the latter had helped Putrajaya in national security projects.

In his letter dated December 14, 2014, Zahid had said Putrajaya continued to call upon Phua to assist the government from time to time and as such, Putrajaya was eager for him to return to Malaysia.

Zahid came under fire for writing the letter, which was exposed by the South China Morning Post (SCMP) on December 31.

Last week, Putrajaya refused to answer any questions about Phua, saying it is a "huge secret".

"The government has no plans to reveal any information related with Phua Wei Seng as it is a huge secret and classified under the Official Secrets Act 1972," Shahidan had told Lim Lip Eng (DAP-Segambut) in a brief one paragraph written reply.

Phua, a former Macau casino junket operator, is facing illegal sports betting charges in Las Vegas after being arrested during last year's FIFA World Cup football tournament in July.

His son Darren Phua, 23, is expected to enter a guilty plea to a lesser misdemeanor charge related to the passing of gambling information and will forfeit US$125,000 (RM460,712), reported SCMP.

- TMI