Zahid said the US authorities believed that Mohamad Bashir Lap was ready to be sent back.
However, the New Straits Times reported him as saying, a mechanism needed to be sorted out by a high level committee chaired by him before that happened.
Zahid was told of this possibility by Ambassador Lee Wolowsky, who is the US Special Envoy for the Guantanamo Closure, at a meeting on the sidelines of the 71st United Nations General Assembly here on Wednesday.
The other Malaysian is Mohd Farik Amin. Both have been at the detention camp since 2006.
Bashir is still deemed a threat to the US according to results of an assessment made by its Department of Defence Periodic Review Board on Sept 15, the NST report said.
Zahid, who is also Home Minister, said the board had concluded that “continued law of war detention” against the two detainees remained necessary, according to the NST report.
The high level committee Zahid will chair involves the Home Ministry, Foreign Ministry, Defence Ministry, National Security Council, Attorney-General’s Office as well as the departments of police, prisons and immigration.