In explaining why White House's request for the arrest of National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden was turned down, Hong Kong's Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen said Tuesday that the U.S. government got Snowden's middle name wrong in the documents it had submitted seeking his arrest.

Hong Kong immigration records had listed Snowden's middle name as Joseph, but the U.S. government used the name James in some documents, Yuen said.

Nevertheless, the U.S. Justice Department doesn't buy Hong Kong's explanation. One senior U.S. law enforcement official argued that the initial provisional arrest warrant request only listed his name as Edward J. Snowden.

The fugitive U.S. intelligence leaker hid in Hong Kong for several weeks before flying to Moscow on Sunday. As Snowden currently remains in the transit area at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, according to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Ecuadorean government is still reviewing his asylum request.