A lawyer who has fled the country has claimed that a member of the Johor palace has issued death threats against him.

Kamal Hisham Jaafar, speaking by phone to Malaysiakini from Doha this morning, said he had been dealing with the Johor royalty for 17 years and that he knows them well.

"I can confirm that I received several death threats made by a member of the Johor royal household. I have the recordings.

"I have yet to make a police report on this as it involves sensitive issues which may appear following that," he said.

"I want to return when the time is right to answer all the allegations against me.

"I have written to the home minister and inspector-general of police (IGP) to have those cases (police reports) transferred from Johor to (federal police headquarters) Bukit Aman (in Kuala Lumpur).

"I am just waiting the green light for the minister and IGP  for the cases to be transferred and I will return.

"I do not trust the police in Johor as I feel the information could be wrongly used to affect my rights to get justice in a transparent manner."

Kamal Hisham, however, would not divulge the nature of the threats.

The lawyer has been accused by Southern Ads Sdn Bhd - a company linked to the Johor royalty and in which he is a director - of fraud, cheating and criminal breach of trust (CBT).

Six police reports have been lodged against him since last March.

In an email response last night through his legal firm, Kamal Hisham and Associates, and again during the phone call, the lawyer denied the claims by Southern Ads at yesterday’s press conference.

"I believe the press conference was directed to tarnish my credibility and a diversion of the real issues at hand.

"I have many documents which can prove the truth (of my innocence) and reveal the actual culprit. ... the allegations are made against me to cover the person's wrongdoing."

'Only an after-thought'

Kamal Hisham also claimed that he set up Southern Ads using his own capital in 2003, and that the royal family did not make any capital injection.

He explained that his conflict with the Johor royalty began when he wanted to discharge his duty truthfully in the division of inheritance assets.

"I believe there were elements which went against the religion and the country's laws (in the division of inheritance)," said Kamal Hisham, who claimed this is the core issue.

NONE Lawyer Baljit Singh Sidhu (left) , representing Southern Ads, told Malaysiakini that Kamal Hisham's latest claim is just "an after-thought".

"The fact remains that he wants to create a diversion on the issues at hand on the complaints made against him for CBT, fraud and also cheating.

"We (the company would) also welcome (it if) the case is transferred to Bukit Aman and would not object to it, as we want to be transparent," he said.

Yesterday, Baljit had urged Kamal Hisham to return home to answer the accusations against him and to stop hurling allegations from outside the country.