Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi must explain if it is normal to receive advice from a private solicitor on official matters, instead of the attorney-general, says PKR Youth vice-chief Fahmi Fadzil.

"Is this standard operating procedure or the norm for ministers?" Fahmi asked in a statement in reference to a letter issued by the minister to the United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation.

In the letter, issued upon the request of Paul Phua’s lawyer, Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, Zahid clears Phua of involvement in illegal drugs, gambling and money laundering activities.

Zahid (right) also says in the letter that Phua is assisting Malaysia in "projects affecting our national security".

Fahmi said: "To date, Zahid still chooses to keep mum and refuses to disclose what these 'projects affecting our national security' Phua is assisting in are.

"Why is Zahid able to issue such a letter for someone like Phua and do nothing when Interpol issues an arrest warrant against the scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a figure acknowleged by Malaysia through the Tokoh Maal Hijrah award?"

By keeping mum, Fahmi added, the minister is making it seem that he is defending an individual who was convicted of illegal gambling in and ousted from Macau, and who faces similar charges in the United States.

Fahmi (right) added that Zahid’s assertion that the 14K triad has no presence in Malaysia does not mean that Phua is not a member of the triad, which the FBI says is largely based in Bangkok.

According to FBI documents sighted by Malaysiakini, Malaysian police identified Phua as a member of 14K, an illegal drug, gambling and money laundering syndicate.

The document also notes that three Malaysians were suspected to be 14K members, with one being “the boss” for the Thai operations.

Phua' lawyer, Shafee, insisted last Saturday that the top poker player is not a triad member and is innocent of the charge slapped on him by the FBI.

'How does Shafee know?'

Meanwhile Malaysian Crime Watch Task Force (MyWatch) chairperson Sri Sanjeevan asked what business Shafee had speaking on behalf of the home minister and how he would have information about the existence of triads in the country.
 
“MyWatch seriously condemns such statement coming from such a prominent lawyer because he should only speak for his client and carry out his duties as a lawyer and not be speaking for the home minister and the IGP and trying to outsmart them.
 
“What evidence or facts does he have that he (could say) such thing about existence of the gang 14K in Malaysia?
 
“Does he personally have connections to any of the triads that he knows such gangs don't exist in Malaysia?” asked the crime watch NGO leader in a statement last night.
 
Sanjeevan urged the IGP to investigate Shafee for his statement on the 14K.
 
He added that former IGP Musa Hassan should also come forward to confirm and explain if a wrong report, as claimed, had been sent to the FBI on Phua.


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