KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia intends to summon the self-proclaimed heirs to the defunct Sulu Sultanate to court for their attempt to get French bailiffs to enter the Malaysian embassy in Paris to "survey" the premises.
The government's Special Sulu Secretariat said preliminary legal advice given to Malaysia was that the bailiffs were acting on instructions by the Sulu claimants to obtain a description of the premises, on the basis of the statutory mortgage registered on the premises on Nov 3, 2022, granted on an ex parte basis by a Paris court.
This, it said, was based on a purported partial award on May 25, 2020, and an Exequatur Order dated Sept 29, 2021, both of which was being challenged by the government in various proceedings in France and other jurisdictions.
"Moving forward, it is Malaysia's intention to summon the Sulu claimants to appear before the court which granted the authorisation order to obtain the cancellation of the registration of the mortgage. The statutory mortgage is not an enforcement measure per se.
"Malaysia maintains that the premises of any diplomatic mission shall be inviolable and shall be immune from any search, requisition, attachment or requisition under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations," the secretariat said in a statement.
On Monday, the bailiffs had approached the embassy and requested access for the purpose of surveying the premises as well as staff residences in two other locations.
However, embassy officials denied them entry and turned them away.
"Malaysia maintains that it does not recognise the purported commercial arbitration instituted by the Sulu claimants and will continue to vigorously defend its sovereignty through the appropriate legal forums," the secretariat said.
It also denied previous reports that the bailiffs were attempting to seize the three properties.
The French court's decision had led Luxembourg authorities to seize Petronas assets worth US$2 billion there on behalf of the Sulu claimants last year. However, in January this year, a Luxembourg court had set aside the order.
Last month, however, Luxembourg court bailiffs again issued a seizure order for the Petronas assets.
