KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia secured a landmark victory at the French court today to set aside the US$15billion (RM69 billion) award in a case brought by the self-proclaimed heirs of the long-defunct Sultan of Sulu, regarding territorial claims related to Sabah.
Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said said the Paris Court of Appeal ruled on Tuesday that the arbitration court, which mandated Malaysia to pay the sum to the self-proclaimed heirs of Sulu, the former rulers of the region, lacked jurisdiction in the case.
"The Paris Court of Appeal had upheld Malaysia's challenge against the partial award rendered on May 25, 2020 by Dr Gonzalo Stampa in the case brought by eight claimants, citizens of the Philippines, who are purported heirs of the long-defunct Sultan of Sulu," she said in a statement tonight.
Azalina said the court's decision today meant that the claimants could not rely on the sham award in France for any purpose.
"The Paris Court of Appeal found that the arbitrator wrongly upheld his jurisdiction.
"This decision, which is final and binding, is a decisive victory for Malaysia in its ongoing pursuit of legal remedies, which Malaysia is confident will result in comprehensive defeat for the claimants and their funders."
In 1878, the former sultanate leased Sabah to a British company, and subsequently, the region became part of Malaysia.
The Sulu sultanate governed the islands in the Sulu Archipelago, which are presently located in the Mindanao region of the Philippines.
Last year, a French arbitration court ruled that Malaysia must compensate the descendants of the Sulu sultanate for their territorial claim. Malaysia then filed an application in Paris to invalidate the award, while a Luxembourg court had suspended the enforcement of the payment.
In March, a Paris court upheld the restraining order obtained by Malaysia, preventing the enforcement of the award.
Azalina also said that the Sulu claimants had previously targeted Malaysia's diplomatic assets in France based on this partial award as part of their abusive strategy, which now had to be withdrawn following the court's decision.
"This decision implies that the Paris Court of Appeal will annul the purported Final Award in which Stampa remarkably awarded the claimants close to US$15 billion.
"Malaysia is seeking to have the annulment recorded in a court decision as soon as possible, which should lead to the collapse of the claimants' global enforcement efforts to date," the minister said.
She added that Stampa had issued the Final Award despite his appointment having been annulled by the same Spanish court that had previously appointed him on the basis that Malaysia had not been properly served ahead of that appointment process.
"In defiance of Spanish court orders instructing him to cease acting as arbitrator, in an unprecedented move, Stampa transferred the arbitration proceedings to France and issued his Final Award.
"Stampa's sustained actions in defiance of Spanish court orders have resulted in a significant abuse of the international arbitration process."
Azalina said that today's decision would also put an end to the efforts of the claimants and their funder, Therium, to enforce the unlawful awards and thereby extract windfall damages from Malaysia.
She also added that the government would continue to take all necessary actions, including legal actions, to put an end to the claims and to ensure that Malaysia's interests, sovereign immunity and sovereignty were protected at all times.
She also thanked Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and all those involved in the effort to uphold the country's position.
Previously, the Special Secretariat on Sulu Claims had condemned the letter sent to the Attorney-General's Chambers from Paul Cohen, the legal counsel of the so-called heirs, which had, among others, demanded immediate payment of the purported Final Award of US$16.412 billion.
The letter also alleged that Malaysia had failed to comply with the final award on purpose and that Malaysia's assertions concerning the arbitrator of the case in Spain, Stampa, were supposedly outrageous.
The Attorney-General subsequently responded to Cohen's letter on May 31, listing all the indisputable facts of the claim.
It added that Malaysia had, on Dec 14, 2021, filed a criminal complaint before the Spanish Public Prosecutor against Stampa following the blatant disregard to the judicial decisions in Spain by the latter and the claimants.
The claimants have attempted to arbitrate this non-commercial matter in a few European countries, namely France, Spain, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
