KUALA LUMPUR - Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim leaves it to the appropriate party to answer the claim made by the heir of Sulu against the Malaysian government.
"Someone else will answer," he told reporters when met after officiating D'Anjung Selera Madani today.
He said this when asked to comment on Sulu's heir, who sent a letter to Attorney-General Tan Sri Idrus Harun and asked for compensation.
Previously, the media reported that the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said said that the letter which was sent several days ago claimed they were entitled to claim US$14.92 billion (RM68.5 billion) which now have increased supposedly due to interest up to US$16 billion (RM73.46 billion).
The Sulu Group brought the case to the Spanish Court to claim compensation over the land in Sabah, which their ancestors allegedly leased to a British trading company in 1878.
The group brought the matter to Spanish arbitration in 2019 and then the arbitrator Dr Gonzalo Stampa, appointed by the group of individuals, ruled in their (claimant's) favour.
Stampa issued the final award and the decision was used to seize assets belonging to Petronas in Luxembourg.
The Sulu claimant then continued the arbitration proceedings in France to obtain the Final Award despite the previous court decision in Spain had favoured Malaysia.