A NEWLY formed country that claims to exist off the northeast coast of Australia and to be ruled by a Middle Eastern king suddenly offered to loan Palau US$100 million.

Palau investigators said that the king, Sheikh Yakub Al-Sheikh Ibrahim, turned out to be a fugitive wanted by the United States for wire fraud, money laundering, income tax evasion and false statements, the Guam Pacific Daily News reported.

Investigators used marine law enforcement programs to locate the United Kingdom of Atlantis with the coordinates given by a delegation that visited Palau. There, they found nothing but deep blue sea.

A delegation of Atlanteans arrived suddenly last month and met with President Tommy Remengesau.

The proposal was for a low-interest loan of up to US$100 million. Palau would have to pay a fee of 2 percent of the loan, or up to US$2 million. The kingdom also wanted Palau to sign a number of treaties that recognized Atlantis as a country and essentially set up diplomatic relations.

The delegation was accompanied by a man said to be an ambassador from the Philippines, and the delegates also claimed their kingdom had signed treaties with the Philippines, among other countries, which the Philippines later denied.

According to printouts from the official United Kingdom of Atlantis Web site, www.ukacrown.com, the country is located northeast of Australia, east of Papua New Guinea, southwest of the Solomon Islands, and west of Vanuatu.

The Web site, which was still providing information Tuesday, also states that the country was founded in 2000 and is a democratic royal monarchy based on the Sovereign Order of Ibrahim, which is said to be the oldest monarchy in the world and one-time ruler of all of the Middle East. King Ibrahim is said to be a direct descendent of the monarchy.

The country’s citizenry is touted at 40 percent Chinese, 40 percent European, 10 percent indigenous and 10 percent from several regions, according to the Web site. The main industry is industrial investment and financing, and the kingdom purports to create US$1.6 billion annually in revenues.

The capital city of Atlantis is located on the largest of 14 islands and is called Stargate.

Due to a miscommunication, the U.S. Government believed Ibrahim was in Palau and quickly asked Palau for his arrest and extradition to the United States. Palau released a statement titled “Man from Atlantis Not in Palau.”(SD-Agencies)