Government Obtains Final Landmark Victory Against Sulu Claimants - Azalina

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 6 (Bernama) -- The government has obtained a final landmark victory at the Supreme Court of the Netherlands today, which ruled in favour of Malaysia and dismissed the appeal filed by the Sulu claimants, according to Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Azalina Othman Said.

In her post on X today, Azalina said the Dutch Supreme Court’s decision, which is final and authoritative, brings an end to the claimants' attempts to enforce their illegitimate claims against Malaysia in the Netherlands.

“This remarkable Supreme Court’s decision endorsed the decision of the Hague Court of Appeal on June 27, 2023, which upheld Malaysia’s challenge against the claimants' application in the Netherlands to recognise and enforce the purported "Final Award", rendered in Paris by Spanish arbitrator Dr Gonzalo Stampa on Feb 28, 2022,” she said.

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On June 27, 2023, the Hague Court of Appeal in the Netherlands dismissed the Sulu claimants’ application for recognition and enforcement of a purported arbitral Final Award of US$14.9 billion (RM62.59 billion) to be enforced in the Netherlands.

Previously,  eight citizens of the Philippines, allegedly heirs of the defunct Sulu sultanate, filed for arbitration proceedings in Spain to seek billions of US dollars from Malaysia over Sabah, and a court in Madrid had in March 2019 appointed Stampa to be the arbitrator for the Sulu claimants’ case.

Stampa had, on Feb 28, 2022, decided in their favour and the Final Award of US$14.9 billion resulting from the sham arbitration was issued illegally by Stampa to the eight claimants despite the prior annulment of his appointment as an arbitrator by the Spanish court.

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In their bid to enforce the US$14.9 billion Final Award, the Sulu claimants were reported to have attempted to seize Malaysia’s oil firm Petronas’ assets in Luxembourg, assets in the Netherlands and also targeted Malaysia’s diplomatic assets in France (including part of its embassy). 

On May 17 this year, Malaysia was notified of the Madrid Court of Appeal's decision to dismiss Stampa’s appeal and uphold his six-month prison sentence and one-year ban from practising as an arbitrator. 

The MADANI Unity Government under the leadership of  Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had aggressively countered the claim by the eight individuals.

Malaysia had secured a decisive victory in the long-running dispute, as a result of favourable rulings by the Court in Luxembourg, the Hague Court of Appeal in the Netherlands, the Paris Court of Appeal in France as well as in the Spanish Court.

-- BERNAMA