KUALA LUMPUR: The funder of the eight Sulu claimants is believed to be from the United States, according to "notes" received by the Malaysian government and views on the official Malaysia-Sulu Case website.
Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Legal and Institutional Reforms) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said said the government has evidence of who is behind the British global litigation fund, called Therium Capital Management Ltd, which is backing the purported heirs.
The cabinet, she said, has been informed but a further probe is needed.
"Foreign Minister (Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir) is responsible for this matter. We have evidence but it is not comprehensive and we want to truly verify it.
"But there were a lot of notes stating that it is from America. And that is what we noticed in our website ,too, where there are a lot of viewers from America.
"We do not know whether they are the ones but they probably enjoy watching Asian countries involved in this process.
"But there is a link as there is a lot of focus from America. We are still investigating and studying this," she said at the Asian International Arbitration Centre here, today.
Azalina was speaking when asked whether the funder is from the US or the Middle East.
She also said that she had ordered the Attorney-General's Chambers to get in touch with Therium.
Malaysia's solicitors in the United Kingdom have also been instructed to write to Therium to convey the recent judgment by the Dutch appellate court dismissing the bid by the Sulu claimants to enforce a US$15 billion arbitration award.
They are also requesting for disclosure of the agreement between Therium and the claimants, Azalina said.
"One claimant has been classified as a terrorist by the Home Ministry and we have informed the authorities to probe deeper.
"We do not know what is happening now is merely a financially motivated fraud movement or it leans more to the issue of sovereignty."
She added that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had already confirmed in Parliament that the Philippine government is not involved and that President Bongbong Marcos said this is a private movement.
"So the question is who is aiding these claimants, who is the mastermind? Is it just for money or more than that?"