KL follows money trail in Sabah incident

MANILA, Philippines - Malaysian police are investigating several Malaysians suspected of financing the Sabah incursion by followers of the Sulu sultan who has pressed proprietary claims over the territory last February.

Citing unnamed sources, the Malaysian Star Online reported over the weekend that Datuk Seri Muhammad Ridzwan Sulaiman, head of a charity foundation, and several others have allegedly paid Sulu militants to enter Kampung Tanduo before security forces began flushing them out on March 5.

Ridzwan showed up at the Ampang Jaya police headquarters yesterday morning to give his statement on the Lahad Datu incursion.

Last Sunday, Malaysian police said they were looking for a certain “Datuk Seri” from Penang to shed light on their investigations into the funding of the intrusion in Lahad Datu.

Sabah police commissioner Datuk Hamza Taib said Ridzwan, from George Town in Penang, is the president of Al-Ehsan Islamiah charity foundation.

Ridzwan told police he did not know Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III, whose younger brother Agbimuddin led some 200 armed members of the sultanate royal army in taking Lahad Datu last Feb. 12, with the aim of reclaiming Sabah.

Agbimuddin had been on the run following the standoff that sparked the offensive launched by Malaysian security forces.               

However, Ridzwan admitted giving money to another claimant to the Sulu throne he identified as Sultan Muedzul Lail Tan Kiram.

Ridzwan was supposed to give his statement at the Dang Wangi police station.

Hamza has urged Ridzwan to come forward and surrender himself to police.

Malaysian Star Online sources speculated that the man might not be a holding a Malaysian “Datuk Seri” title but might be from the family of the Sulu sultanate.