I never wrote to FBI, confirms Syed Hamid

 

 Former home minister Syed Hamid Syed Albar says he never wrote any letter to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the United States during his tenure in government.

"During my time, I didn't write any letter to the FBI, " Syed Hamid said after attending a signing ceremony of the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD), which he chairs, today.

This comes after another former home minister, Hishammuddin Hussein, also declared earlier this week that he had never issued any letter to the FBI.

Last week, Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (right) defended his action on issuing a letter to the FBI.

In the letter, Zahid explained that the there was no 14K triad in Malaysia and alleged 'kingpin' Paul Phua is not a member of the triad in Malaysia.

Zahid has also declared that it is within his discretion and power to issue such a letter, adding that his predecessors had issued similar letters.

Syed Hamid, who also the former Kota Tinggi MP, was appointed to become the home minister after the 12th general election in 2008.

However, he was replaced by Hishammuddin in 2009 during the cabinet reshuffle.

This was after the notorious ISA detention on Malaysia Today webmaster Raja Petra Kamaruddin, DAP Seputeh MP Teresa Kok and a Sin Chew Daily reporter Tan Hoon Cheng in late 2008.

Syed Hamid said that he did not write any letter to any agencies when he was the home minister.

“During my time, when I was heading (the ministry), there was no such case and I had never written to agency.

“If it is agency to agency, I am not interested to know as I am a policy guy. So I would leave it to the relevant agency to tackle,” he said.

Nevertheless, he defended Zahid’s action as this is the discretionary power given to the home minister to issue such letter.