French court ends Sulu heirs' claims on Malaysian assets - minister

Malaysia secured a decisive legal victory in a court in France that ended the claims by the self-proclaimed heirs of the defunct Sulu sultanate on the Malaysian government’s diplomatic assets.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reforms) Azalina Othman Said said that on Monday (Nov 6), the court annulled the order for a statutory mortgage against Malaysian diplomatic buildings in Paris.

She said the court yesterday (Nov 9) also recorded the withdrawal of claims to seize assets - Malaysia’s diplomatic buildings - by the Sulu group.

“The outcome of the decisions on Nov 6 and 9 ends the Sulu claimants’ efforts to seize Malaysia-linked assets throughout the world.

“They failed in their attempts to touch assets that belong to Malaysia and we will not compromise with illegal and baseless claims,” she told the media during an online press conference yesterday.

Azalina was in London to meet lawyers appointed by the Malaysian government to challenge the third phase of the territorial claims by the eight Philippine citizens, as well as to ensure a comprehensive defeat of the claimants and their funders.

“The Malaysian government will continue to take all necessary actions to ensure Malaysia’s interests, sovereign immunity, and sovereignty are protected at all times,” she said.

Vienna Convention

Meanwhile, Azalina in a statement said Malaysia’s June 6 victory, in appealing against the enforcement of the partial award made by Spanish arbitrator Gonzalo Stampa, will lead to the withdrawal of measures registered by the heirs on diplomatic buildings owned by Malaysia in Paris.

She said Malaysia challenged the measures on the grounds of its immunity, in particular the immunity of its diplomatic premises as recognised under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961.

“On Nov 6, 2023, the Paris enforcement judge quashed its prior ex-parte order authorising that a statutory mortgage be registered on three diplomatic buildings owned by Malaysia in Paris.

“The judge considered that it did not have the power to authorise such a measure and ordered the claimants to pay €15,000 (RM75,000) to Malaysia as cost,” she said.

Azalina further said the claimants confirmed they will now remove the statutory mortgage, and this adverse cost order comes in addition to the €100,000 (RM500,000) adverse cost order issued by the Paris Court of Appeal in its June 6 decision in favour of Malaysia which refused the recognition of the so-called partial award dated May 25, 2020, in France.

She said Malaysia is taking the necessary steps to ensure the adverse cost orders are paid as soon as possible by the claimants or their litigation funder, Therium.

She said yesterday, as a further result of the June 6 decision, the Paris enforcement judge recorded the claimants’ withdrawal from the proceedings they initiated to seize the aforementioned diplomatic buildings.

“Malaysia has been successful in protecting its interests throughout the world, including in France (where the so-called final award of US$14.9 billion [RM62.59 billion] purports to have been rendered by Stampa).

“To date, neither the so-called partial award nor the so-called final award can be enforced in France: the recognition and enforcement of the former have been refused by the Paris Court of Appeal in its June 6, 2023, decision and the enforcement of the latter has been stayed by the Paris Court of Appeal pending the outcome of the annulment proceedings,” she said.

Ultimate annulment

Azalina said in light of these developments, the government is confident the ultimate annulment of the purported final award by the Paris Court of Appeal is only a matter of time, and is making every effort to secure that result as quickly as possible.

Malaysia used all legal remedies to annul the award given by Stampa to the claimants in courts in Spain, France, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands.

Malaysia scored another win when The Hague Court of Appeal on June 27, dismissed the Sulu group’s application to recognise and enforce the final award in the country.

In their efforts to enforce the final award, the Sulu group reportedly attempted to seize the assets of Petronas in Luxembourg and the Netherlands as well as targeted Malaysian diplomatic assets in France, including its embassy.

In 2019, the group was reported to have taken legal action in the Spanish Court to seek compensation for land in Sabah, which was allegedly leased by their ancestors to a British trading company in 1878.

- Bernama

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