Sulu heirs may go after more of our commercial assets, warns Azalina

KUALA LUMPUR: The Sulu claimants may target other commercial assets belonging to Malaysia after their seizure attempts on PETRONAS subsidiaries, says Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said.

The Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reforms) said the self-styled heirs of the Sulu sultanate "have tried everything" and are now resorting to foreign legal avenues to target Malaysian assets.

"They feel like they can disturb Malaysian assets," she told reporters after a briefing with MPs on the Sulu claims in Parliament on Tuesday (Feb 28).

Azalina will also be visiting Sabah on Wednesday (March 1) to meet Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor and to see whether the state government can assist in the matter.

ALSO READ: So-called Sulu heirs will continue claims on Malaysia's foreign assets if govt remains unstable, says Azalina

On Thursday (Feb 23), Azalina had said in Parliament that the claimants would continue attacking Malaysian assets if they perceived instability and disunity in the country.

"That is why we must heed the King's decree, we must show to the people that we can lead and bring good to the country," she said in her winding-up speech on the motion of thanks to the Royal Address.

Among the reasons that led to the recent claims by the self-proclaimed heirs of the Sulu sultanate was that Putrajaya stopped paying the cession money of RM5,300 a year to the heirs in 2013.

ALSO READ: Azalina: Sulu heirs' fraudulent behaviour led to Luxembourg court decision in our favour

Malaysia stopped payments following the armed incursion at Lahad Datu.

The money was part of the 1878 agreement signed by then Sulu sultan Jamal Al Alam, Baron de Overbeck and the then maharaja of Sabah and the British North Borneo Company's Alfred Dent.

Malaysia took over the payments when it became the successor of the agreement following Sabah's independence and the formation of Malaysia in 1963.

On Feb 17, PETRONAS said in a statement that claims by the purported Sulu heirs on two of its subsidiaries in Luxembourg were baseless and it would continue to defend its position from a legal aspect.