The alleged heirs of the Sulu Sultanate have claimed they are “happy to assist” the Royal Malaysia Police’s investigation against them over a multi-billion ringgit arbitration claim linked to Sabah’s sovereignty.
In an emailed response to Malaysiakini recently, the claimants’ United Kingdom-based counsel Paul Cohen expressed his client’s willingness to cooperate in the police’s probe for alleged sabotage under Section 124K of the Penal Code.
The counsel from London law firm Gray’s Inn Square claimed that in 2017, the alleged Sulu heirs had made contact at the highest levels of the Malaysian government to warn of the upcoming civil litigation.
“We offered to talk, they chose this route instead. I do not believe the Royal Malaysia Police will have any difficulty differentiating between civil legal action in multiple jurisdictions on the one hand and these absurd allegations of criminal sabotage on the other.
“But if they need such help, we are happy to assist them,” Cohen said.
On May 30, Bernama reported Inspector-General of Police Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani saying that they have received a report about the group of people claiming to be the heirs of the Sulu sultanate.
The nation’s top cop said the report was lodged by the Prime Minister’s Department’s (PMD) Legal Affairs Division director-general Khairul Dzaimee Daud, following a demand to the government on July 30, 2019.
“The claim is a threat to national security. The police, through Bukit Aman’s Criminal Intelligence Unit, have launched investigations under Section 124(k) of the Penal Code for sabotage.
“The police take seriously any element that could disrupt public order, especially acts of sabotage against the security, sovereignty, and stability of the country, and guarantees that a detailed investigation into the matter will be conducted,” Acryl Sani said in a media statement.
On May 26, Bernama reported the PMD Legal Affairs Division as saying that the police report was lodged a day earlier (May 25) over what the division described as involving the notice of arbitration handed to the Malaysian government involving a claim exceeding US$32 billion (about RM148 billion).
“The director-general lodged this report because the claim is a threat to national security,” read the statement.
The statement also mentioned that following the Lahad Datu incursion, the government declared the Royal Sulu Force as a terrorist entity involved in the tragedy in Sabah in 2013.
It also reiterated its allegation that one of the claimants, Fuad A Kiram, was also classified as a terrorist under Section 66B of the Anti-Money Laundering, Terrorism Financing, and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 on April 6, 2023.
According to the statement, the police report was lodged at the Putrajaya district police headquarters over alleged elements of economic sabotage and threats to national security, via the purported aggressive actions of the claimants claimed to be complicit in abusing the international arbitration process. - Mkini
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