Sulu claimant listed as terrorist

One of the claimants from the Sulu group known as Fuad A Kiram has been classified as a terrorist, says the director-general of the Legal Affairs Division of the Prime Minister's Department, Khairul Dzaimee Daud.

He said Fuad had been listed in the entity classified as terrorists under Section 66B of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorist Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 effective April 6.

"The home ministry has informed that claimant Fuad A Kiram, who is also one of the founders of the Royal Sulu Force which is a terrorist group, has been classified as a terrorist entity by the government," he said in a media briefing in Putrajaya yesterday.

Fuad, whose real name is Muhammad Fuad Abdullah Kiram, is one of eight individuals claiming to be the heirs of the Sulu group who are making claims against Sabah, including some Malaysian assets abroad.

In February last year, news agencies in Spain reported that the country's arbitrator Dr Gondoza had ordered Malaysia to pay compensation of US$14.92 billion (RM62.59 billion) to the heirs of the sultan of Sulu.
 
Malaysia is accused of not paying separation money or compensation amounting to RM5,300 a year since 2013, which is said to have violated the 1987 Agreement signed by Sultan Jamal Al-Alamn with Baron De Overbeck and Alfred Dent representing the British North Borneo company.

Earlier, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Legal and Institutional Reform) Azalina Othman Said said the claim through commercial arbitration and proceedings against Malaysia was funded by a litigation fund known as Therium, with a conspiracy to claim US$14.9 billion from Malaysia.

Azalina said the facts of the case were not very solid as until now, it was not known whether the claimants were really the heirs of Sultan Jamalul Kiran II.

The Sulu claim against Malaysia also ignores the will of the people of Sabah to join Malaysia in 1963 as reported by the Cobbold Commission, she said.