Malaysian Official Accused of ‘Atrocious English’ Paul Phua Letter: G911 Investigates

The soap opera involving Malaysian poker pro Paul Phua continues and keeps getting more surreal by the day.

The case up to this point has centered on the legalities of an FBI ruse in which agents dressed up as cable repairmen to gain access to Phua’s Las Vegas hotel suite after deliberately cutting off Internet access. A judge is set to hear this matter in the coming weeks.

The FBI asserts that Phua and his son Darren were operating a multi-million dollar World Cup sports betting scheme on behalf of an Asian organized criminal syndicate from their Caesar’s Hotel suite along with about a half dozen other individuals who have since plead guilty.  Phua denies the allegations.

In support of Phua, Malaysia’s Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi sent out a letter to the FBI insisting that the wealthy poker pro was not a member of a syndicate identified as the "14K Triad" and that Malaysian police were wrong in making such claims back in 2008.

Now it turns out there is a "grammar war" of sorts within the Malaysian Government where Hamidi is being accused of using “atrocious English” in said correspondence with the Feds.

Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng told reporters Tuesday:

“The letter’s language is not conforming to international standards,” and added, “I mean what I want to say is that this shouldn’t be the standard of correspondence coming from the Ministry of Home Affairs.

“Standards expected by the government of Malaysia to the US government should be better.”

Lim did not elaborate on whether he supported Hamidi’s notion that Phua does not have ties to the 14K Triad.

Gambling911.com had its own internal grammar experts analyze the December 18 letter in question.

It begins:  “I have been made to understand that Mr Paul Wei Seng Phua (“Mr Phua”), one of the accused in the above matter, is currently charged for transmission of wagering information and operating an illegal gambling business.  He has also been denied bail and is currently under house arrest in Las Vegas.”

Gambling911.com’s own Jagajeet Chiba gives that paragraph a thumb’s up.

“It’s not Shakespeare  but  I don’t see anything wrong with what he wrote.”

Hamidi’s next paragraph reads: “Upon written requests by his Malaysian and American legal teams, they have asked me to write to you directly as they have been made to understand that your department may be looking into Mr Phua’s plausible involvement with the Chinese transnational organized crime organization named “14K Triad” in Malaysia.”

Chiba notes: “Reads like something Captain Obvious might say in that a crime organization wouldn’t need to be described as being organized and Phua’s plausible was likely meant to read possible since plausible implies “highly likely”.

That paragraph continues: “As such, to assist both your department and legal teams, based on our information, Mr. Phua is neither a member nor is he associated with the “14K Triad”. 

“That part reads well,” Chiba commented.

The third and final paragraph reads as follows: “Moreover, according to our records, Mr Phua has, on numerous occasions, assisted the Government of Malaysia on projects affecting our national security and accordingly we call upon him to assist us from time to time and as such we are eager for him to return to Malaysia.”

“That paragraph might be a bit ‘wordy’ and a little ‘too much information’,” suggests Chiba.

All in all, Chiba concludes that the letter in question is hardly an embarrassment to the Malaysian Government.

“It looks like something George W. Bush could have written back in the day,” Chiba quipped.  

- Ace King, Gambling911.com