DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang feels there are more questions than answers forthcoming over the 'letter' issue by home minister to the FBI on the case against alleged gambling kingpin Paul Phua. – The Malaysian Insider pic, January 5, 2015.The credibility of the police and the home minister have been undermined and besmirched in the case involving the alleged gambling kingpin, said the DAP.
"The home minister cannot stay silent any longer on this issue as Malaysians are entitled to a true and unvarnished version of these curious set of events which brings no good whatsoever to Malaysia’s international standing and repute," the oppositon party's parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang Lim said in a statement today.
Lim was commenting on Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi's letter to the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) in the United States, to vouch for an alleged gambling kingpin.
He pointed out nine curious aspects of the case involving Paul Phua We Seng, a former Macau casino junket operator, who is facing illegal sports betting charges in Las Vegas after being arrested during last year's FIFA World Cup football.
In a letter dated December 18 last year, addressed to FBI deputy director Mark F.Giuliano, Zahid had claimed that Phua was not a member of the 14K Triad in Malaysia, refuting a court filing by the US Justice Department stating that he was a high-ranking member of the Asian organised-crime group.
Instead, Zahid had said Phua had assisted Putrajaya on projects affecting national security.
Lim noted it is curious and pointed out this must be the first case where the home minister of a country has written to the FBI to vouch for the integrity of a person detained by the bureau.
Secondly, he said it was curious that Zahid wrote to correct a mistake in the report by the Malaysian police to the FBI about Phua.
Secondly, he said it was curious that Zahid wrote to correct a mistake in the report by the Malaysian police to the FBI about Phua.
"If there was such a 'mistake', why didn’t the police themselves write to the FBI to correct it?" Lim asked.
The third and fourth curious aspects, said the veteran politician, was whether the police agreed it had made a mistake in its report to the FBI, and if the police knew Zahid had written to the FBI.
The fifth and sixth curious aspects concerned the nature of the "national security projects" in which Phua had allegedly assisted Malaysia, Lim said, and questioned if the police were privy to this information.
He said the seventh curious aspect was whether Zahid had acted unilaterally, without the knowledge and consent, or went against the advice of the police in writing the letter, citing the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar's refusal to comment on the veracity of the letter.
He said the eight curious aspect touched on the latest development in Las Vegas's Nevada District Court where Phua's team withdrew the letter after Putrajaya objected to it being used for the kingpin's defence.
"The Home Minister’s letter to the FBI dated December 18, 2014 was clearly in defence of Phua and yet the latest twist of the Las Vegas gambling trial is that the letter was not to be used in an open court, in defence of Phua.
"Who objected? Was it Zahid, the police, the Attorney-General’s Chambers or Foreign Ministry?" Lim asked.
Finally, Lim speculated on the ninth curious aspect, asking if the police were "eager" for Phua's return to further help the government on “projects affecting our national security”.
Umno lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah told a press conference on Saturday that Zahid had not "vouched" for Phua in the letter, but was merely responding to a request by Phua’s lawyer to share any information directly with the FBI.
He pointed out that Zahid did not say in his letter whether Phua was innocent or guilty of the gambling offence for which he had been arrested in Las Vegas.
"Zahid found it necessary to correct the perception that Phua was a member of the 14K Triad in Malaysia as the claim against the latter had been vague," he had said.
Shafee had said that for Zahid to provide such information to the FBI was not an exception, clarifying that he had asked the home minister to direct his letter directly to the FBI.
"The FBI got their facts wrong, there is no 14K Triad in Malaysia," Shafee had said, adding that Phua's trial had not yet begun and he should be presumed innocent until proven guilty.
He had also said that Phua's alleged offence was merely a revenue offence as he was undertaking gambling activities without a licence.
On July 13, Phua was arrested for allegedly running an illicit gambling business out of the Caesars Palace villas in Las Vegas, four days after the FBI stormed the hotel villa to find him and his son watching the World Cup semifinal.
Citing federal prosecutors, Bloomberg reported that Phua and his associates were using the SBOBet and IBCBet sports betting websites to monitor odds and place bets. Neither of the online sport betting commission businesses were licensed to operate in Nevada.
Phua reportedly told federal agents that he had invested US$200 million (more than RM700 million) in the IBC website and that he had bet “between US$200 million and US$300 million in Hong Kong money” since arriving at the villa on June 23.
The father and son appeared in federal court in Las Vegas on August 5 and pleaded not guilty to the offence, before posting a bail of US$2.5 million with Phua’s US$48 million Gulfstream G550 private jet secured as collateral.
- TMI
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