Malaysia obtains final victory

PETALING JAYA: The Supreme Court in the Netherlands has decided in favour of Malaysia in a final landmark judgment, thereby throwing out the compensation claims by the self-proclaimed heirs of the defunct Sulu sultanate, says Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said.

According to the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform), the decision by the Supreme Court has closed the chapter on the claimant’s attempts to enforce illegitimate claims on Malaysia.

“The Government of Malaysia has obtained a final landmark victory at the Supreme Court of the Netherlands, which ruled in favour of Malaysia and dismissed the appeal filed by the Sulu claimants.

“The 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,” Azalina said in a Facebook post yesterday.

“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 added.

In 2019, the Sulu claimants took their case to Stampa to seek compensation for land in Sabah, which they claimed was leased by their ancestors to a British trading company in 1878.

On Feb 28, 2022, Stampa decided in their favour and the final award of US$14.9bil was issued illegally in a Paris arbitration court.

The award was issued by Stampa despite the prior annulment of his appointment as an arbitrator by the Spanish court in 2021.

The Sulu group then brought the case to the Paris court in France.

In March last year, the Paris Court of Appeal upheld the suspension order obtained by Malaysia against the enforcement of the final award.

In January this year, Stampa was sentenced to six months in jail for contempt of court and he was banned from practising as an arbitrator for one year.