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SYDNEY - The celebrations were suitably lavish when the Sultan of Brunei, one of the world's richest men, married a former television presenter 32 years his junior in 2005.
Only one thing was missing: a 400-year-old miniature, gold-lined Koran, which a group of Australian businessmen claim the Sultan intended to give his new bride as a wedding present.
The Australians bought the handwritten Koran, in its jewel-encrusted case, from a former Russian KGB colonel, they say.
They planned to offer it to the highest bidder, and began negotiating with representatives of Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, the absolute monarch of the oil-rich state, settling on a price of US$8 million ($11 million).
But the Sultan, despite his estimated $62 billion fortune, allegedly failed to pay up, and yesterday the case reached the New South Wales Supreme Court - where it was promptly dismissed, Judge Robert McDougall ruling that it could not be heard in Australia.
The judge said the men would have to sue in Brunei.
But Michael McGurk, director of their company, Garsec, said afterwards that course of action was not available to them.
The 60-year-old Sultan has declared himself above the law in his own country.
The men came across the exquisitely made Koran, which is the size of a matchbox, while doing business in Moscow.
The ex-colonel told them that the Ottoman Empire relic had been in his family for 100 years.
They brought it back to Australia, where it was authenticated by Ahmad Shboul, chair of the department of Arabic and Islamic studies at Sydney University.
Mr Shboul described it as a "rare copy of the Koran of exceptional characteristics".
He said it dated from the 16th or 17th century, and its tiny size and gold markings indicated that it was probably made for a royal person, as "a sacred object of blessing".
Mr McGurk and his two fellow Garsec directors, David Rahme and Hugh Millikin, say they paid several visits to the Sultan's palace while negotiating with various of his emissaries, including his private secretary, Pehin Nawawi, Mr Nawawi's godson, Sunny Chai, and Brunei's director of transportation and communications, Pangerang Yakub Othman.
Other meetings took place in luxury hotels, with the men spending thousands of dollars flying to Brunei and other Asian countries.
They opened a bank account in Singapore, on the instructions of the Sultan's representatives, and completed the deal in April 2005, they say.
In August that year the Sandhurst-educated Sultan, who has ruled his tiny country by decree for the past four decades, wed his third wife, 28-year-old Azrinaz Mazhr Hakim, in Kuala Lumpur.
But the Australians say the money was never handed over, and that royal emissaries have since avoided all contact.
They sued for breach of contract.
Yesterday Mr McGurk condemned the judge's decision, and his advice that they should pursue their complaint through the justice system in Brunei.
"The fact of us going to Brunei to lodge a lawsuit against the Sultan is something that can't happen, given the fact that he's declared himself infallible," he said.
"The Sultan should be called to account. He's managed to get himself a "Get out of jail free" card. Nobody should be above the law in Australia."
The men had planned to donate some of the proceeds from the sale of the Koran to Muslim charities in Sydney.
"All of those charities have lost out today as a direct result of this judgement," Mr McGurk said.
They are now considering an appeal, and may put the Koran back up for sale.
Mr McGurk said several offshore buyers were interested.
The Koran, which fits into the palm of a hand, is stored in a safety deposit box.
The Sultan did not attend court yesterday.
His lawyers told an earlier hearing that the cost of providing security would be prohibitive.
They have denied all of Garsec's claims.
- INDEPENDENT
