Anwar: Dutch court to deliver Sulu heirs’ US$14.9b ‘Final Award’ claim on June 27

KUALA LUMPUR, June 14 — Malaysia is awaiting the rulings of two courts in Netherlands and Luxembourg where the purported Sulu claimants have sought to enforce a US$14.9 billion unlawful arbitration award (Final Award), Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said today.

Addressing federal lawmakers in the Dewan Rakyat earlier, Anwar said Dutch Court of Appeal’s decision on the recognition and enforceability of the “Final Award” is scheduled to be delivered on June 27.

This follows a June 6 decisive legal victory by Malaysia in the Paris Court of Appeal where the court upheld Malaysia’s challenge against Gonzalo Stampa’s May 2020 “partial award” (where Stampa said he could be the arbitrator) in which the claimants had later sought to enforce the “Final Award” which Stampa gave in France in the arbitration.

“Malaysia will continue in all its effort to defend the country’s sovereignty in the Netherlands, France, Luxembourg and any jurisdiction where the ‘Final Award’ is to be recognised and enforced.

“Even though the June 6 decision favoured Malaysia, the government has been informed that the claimants seek to continue their tactics of enforcing the Final Award in other countries.

“The claimants’ move is an abuse and violation of the court and arbitration process recognised internationally,” he said in his special briefing to MPs.

Anwar reiterated the government’s stance that Stampa was not authorised to award any form of compensation since the Superior Court of Justice in Madrid, Spain, had in June 2021 annulled or cancelled his appointment as arbitrator.

“Any awards issued by Stampa have breached the principles of international public policy, especially because it involves violating the principles of diplomatic immunity, jurisdictional immunity and sovereignty,” he said.

Apart from France, Anwar said the claimants’ attempt to enforce the “Final Award” in Luxembourg through an exequatur procedure dated May 2022 has been challenged in court, with Malaysia awaiting further instructions from the Luxembourgian court.

“Here I would like to stress that the government will not hesitate to take legal action in accordance with the law against any parties including citizens who turn their backs towards the country’s interest by providing any direct or indirect support; assistance and conspiring with the claimants.

“The Malaysian government is committed to acting proactively to put an end to this issue while ensuring national interest and sovereignty is continuously upheld,” he said.

Since 2020, the Sulu claimants have made attempts to seize assets belonging to Malaysia or Malaysian entities in Luxembourg, France, and the Netherlands to enforce the US$14.92 billion arbitration award, but Malaysia has been fighting such efforts through the courts.

Previously, eight citizens of the Philippines, who claimed to be heirs of the defunct Sulu sultanate, had filed for arbitration proceedings in Spain to seek billions of US dollars from Malaysia over Sabah.

A court in Madrid, Spain had in March 2019 appointed Stampa to be the arbitrator for the Sulu claimants’ case, but the same Spanish court later in June 2021 annulled or cancelled his appointment as arbitrator.

On May 25, 2020, Stampa made what is known as the “partial award” in the Sulu claimants’ arbitration case.

In his May 2020 partial award, Stampa dismissed Malaysia’s objections against the arbitration, deciding that he has the jurisdiction to be the arbitrator in the Sulu claimants’ case and that Madrid, Spain will be the arbitration venue.

When Spain cancelled his appointment as the Sulu case’s arbitrator, Stampa decided to continue to be the arbitrator and changed the arbitration venue to France instead, before proceeding on February 28, 2022 to give the “final award” in the arbitration process by ordering Malaysia to pay US$14.9 billion to the Sulu claimants.

The Sulu claimants have previously targeted Malaysia’s diplomatic assets in France — including parts of the Malaysian embassy — by relying on the partial award.