‘WE WANT OUR GOLD!’
Two brothers from the former British protectorate of Sabah have claimed that 50,000 tonnes of gold - 18 times the value of Australia’s entire gold reserves - lies in a Melbourne bank.
And after a spell in a local jail they have vowed not only to return to find it, but have now asked their lawyer to help them ‘claim back their country’.
Sabah is the third most important producer of petroleum and natural gas in Malaysia and operates the largest copper mine. In 1881 Alfred Dent, an Englishman, set up the Chartered Company of British North Borneo to manage the territory. It later became a British Crown Colony, gaining independence and becoming part of Malaysia in 1963.
Now Prince Hadji Rodinood Sultan Kiram,48, and his brother, Datu Mohammed Kurdhur, 39, have written to Gold Coast solicitor Mr. Bill Potts, asking him to petition the Queen to have Sabah handed back. The two arrived here Filipina passports, saying they were determined to regain independence for their homeland and they needed the gold - which they claimed was being held by the Westpac Bank - to finance the fight.
Trouble began when they approached a gold bullion dealer with their documentation, saying their grandfather had taken the huge mass of gold to Australia for safekeeping as the Japanese armies swept through South-east Asia. They had, they said, been given detailed ‘information’ by former Filipino first lady Imelda Marcos. They offered the dealer an eight percent discount on the market price.
At that point their quest went confusingly wrong. The police were called in and the two were charged with trying to obtain $55 billion by false pretences from Robert Szatmary, of Gold Coast Bullion Services; and one count of uttering a false document.
In court, their defence counsel, Mr. Potts, told the magistrate there had been a misunderstanding. His clients denied offering to sell the gold to Mr. Szatmary; they were only seeking help to discover whether it existed. After a night in the Southport watchhouse and two more in Brisbane police cells awaiting bail sureties from Sabah, the police announced in court that they were offering no evidence and the fraud charges would be dropped.
But what of the gold? Does it exist?
Mr. Potts told me yesterday: ‘I have defended some interesting people in my 16 years in the courts - including Christopher Skase - and I can only say to you that these gentlemen firmly believe the gold is genuine; that it exists. Several days ago I received instruction that the two intend pursuing the search and are asking me to make formal approaches to have the country returned to the royal family of Sabah. There is a problem: I have also received a letter from His Royal Highness, the King, saying there are nine individuals purporting to be descendants of the old king and all want the gold.’
Mr. Potts’ four centimetre-high Sabah file contains a letter on Westpac Banking Corporation, Melbourne, letterhead to a Malaysian bank, carrying the name and purported signature of Mr. V. Giuliano, Manager of Customer Service. The letter says: "We wish to advise and confirm that the stock available for sale is 50,000 metric tonnes free from any charge whatsoever and the legal signatory is Prince Hadji Rodinood Maulana Sultan Julaspi Kiram II."
Is the gold ("a small mountain of it," says Mr. Potts), languishing in the vaults at 360 Collins-st., Melbourne?
Mr. Potts’ clients say they have no knowledge of the bank letter being - as the police claim - a forgery. The letter came to them via their bank in Sabah. They believed that all they had to do was arrive in Australia, make their signatures on the account and receive the gold.
They went to Westpac in Melbourne and asked to see Mr. V. Giuliano. He said he had no idea who they were and what they were talking about…
