KUALA LUMPUR – The Sulu heirs failed to enforce a USD 15 billion arbitration award against Malaysia at the Netherlands Supreme Court.
In a statement on X today, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said mentioned that the ruling marks a conclusive end to the claimants’ attempts to enforce their illegitimate claims against Malaysia in the Netherlands.
“This remarkable Supreme Court decision endorsed the decision of the Hague Court of Appeal of 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 Dr. Gonzalo Stampa on February 28, 2022,” Azalina stated.
The Dutch apex court’s decision comes after the eight descendants of the Sulu Sultanate failed to enforce their claim at the Netherlands Court of Appeal in June 2023.
Previously, in 2022, a Paris arbitration court awarded the Sulu heirs USD 15 billion in a claim against Malaysia over disputes related to a colonial-era land deal.
They have since sought to seize Malaysian government assets in France, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands in a bid to enforce the award.
Malaysia, which did not participate in the arbitration, maintains that the arbitration process taken by the Sulu heirs was illegal and has vowed to fight the seizures. – September 6, 2024