The plot thickens with Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin revealing that the cabinet was not aware of the letter by Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI).

He said the cabinet "did not discuss" the matter beforehand and any further elaboration would come after he had studied the issue.

"We did not discuss this in the cabinet," he told a press conference in Cyberjaya today.

Despite the media blitz, Muhyiddin also claimed to be in the dark about the differing versions from Umno-linked lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah and Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar.

"I am not aware of the differing versions," he said.

"Any further statements can only be made when I have studied the issue," he added.

Shafee is representing alleged Malaysian gambling kingpin Paul Phua, who is facing court proceedings in the United States, and for whom Zahid had penned a support letter for.

This is the first response from the government regarding this issue as the others, including Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, have kept mum or declined to comment.

Zahid in December wrote a letter to US authorities saying Phua assisted the Malaysian government in "national security matters" and that he was not a member of the 14K triad, as previously stated in a report submitted by the Malaysian police to the FBI.

Shafee had said that Zahid wrote the letter to correct a "wrong report" submitted by the Malaysian police regarding Phua being a member of the triad.

However, the police chief had indicated that the findings were true.

Phua and his son Darren were arrested in the lobby of the Palazzo hotel July last year and had been since been released on bail and placed under house arrest in Las Vegas.

They face charges of running a massive illegal betting ring in conjunction with the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil.

The FBI has alleged Phua of being a member of the 14K triad, an international Asian crime syndicate.

Zahid's letter to FBI director Mark Giuliano was later retracted from the Nevada court in Vegas, apparently on the behest of the Malaysian government.

Is it the end of the road for Zahid and Shafee?