PETALING JAYA: The Court of Appeal in the Hague, the Netherlands, decided on Tuesday (June 27) in favour of Malaysia on compensation claims by eight self-proclaimed heirs of the defunct Sulu sultanate against the country.
The court's decision marks the nation's third successful bid at thwarting attempts by the claimants seeking compensation totalling US$14.94bil (RM68.8bil) against Malaysia since 2019.
They had failed in their bids in Spain and France earlier this year.
"We won and ended an unpleasant episode for the nation, which challenged the sovereignty of Malaysia.
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"Thankfully, they (claimants) failed," Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said in an immediate response to the good news before returning to the country after a two-day official visit to Laos.
In a press statement that followed shortly after, Anwar said the latest decision favouring Malaysia showed that the court refused to recognise the "final award" as a "sham and abusive arbitration" brought by the so-called heirs of the long-defunct Sultanate of Sulu.
"This decision has blocked any attempt by the claimants to enforce their illegitimate claims against the Government of Malaysia in the Netherlands.
“The Government of Malaysia is confident that we are now closer than ever to completely nullifying the sham and abusive Final Award amounting to approximately US$15bil issued by Dr Gonzalo Stampa, thus consigning the claimants’ flawed claims to history," he said.
The Prime Minister said the decision by the Hague Court of Appeal, combined with the recent decision of the Paris Court of Appeal, will put an end to the frivolous attempts of the claimants to enforce the purported final award in other jurisdictions.
“The Government of Malaysia will fight by any means necessary against this flagrant exploitation and abuse of the international arbitral system as well as take all necessary actions to recover the costs for the public resources that Malaysia has been forced to expend in dealing with these claims,” he said, adding that Putrajaya is confident that justice will prevail for the people of Malaysia.
On April 19, Malaysia's Sulu Secretariat said in a statement that the Hague Court of Appeal had heard submissions from the government and the Sulu claimants during proceedings held on April 17.
During the proceedings, Malaysia submitted its defence that the Sulu claimants’ application for the recognition and enforcement of the purported final award issued by Spanish arbitrator Stampa in 2022 against Malaysia is null and void and their request is inadmissible and therefore, must be denied.
The secretariat said Malaysia is committed to safeguarding its sovereignty and upholding the sanctity of the international commercial arbitration process and laying bare the claimants' frivolous attempts to enforce a sham award that is null and void.
The eight claimants initially made the claim in Spanish arbitration court in 2019 through Stampa and it was dismissed by the Spanish Constitutional Court in February this year.
Spanish authorities are currently taking criminal action against Stampa for ignoring the ruling to stop the arbitration case.
Stampa then moved his seat of arbitration to Paris in February 2022, where he won the award against Malaysia.
However, last September, the French arbitration court, without knowing the decision of the Madrid court to cancel Stampa's appointment as an arbitrator, went ahead with the Sulu descendants' case against Malaysia.
On June 6, a Paris Court of Appeal decided in favour of Malaysia and set aside a Paris Arbitration Court’s purported award of US$14.94bil (RM68.8bil) to the so-called Sulu heirs.
There remains one arbitration to be heard by the court in Luxembourg this September.
