This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on December 30, 2024 - January 12, 2025

IN 2024, Malaysia clinched decisive wins in several European jurisdictions in legal actions mounted by eight Philippine citizens claiming to be heirs of the now-defunct Sulu Sultanate, over a colonial-era land deal.

One of the most significant wins was surely a court finding Spanish rogue arbitrator Dr Gonzalo Stampa guilty of contempt of court.

A final resolution may not be in the immediate horizon but positive decisions by the French and Dutch courts against Stampa’s controversial 2022 “final award” of US$14.92 billion to be paid by Malaysia, was good news for the sovereign which has had to stave off seizure of its assets in a number of jurisdictions following Stampa’s ruling.

In January this year, Stampa was found guilty of contempt of court and sentenced to six months’ imprisonment and barred from practice for a year for going against a June 2021 Madrid High Court of Justice ruling that had annulled his appointment and subsequently all his procedural actions. The Spanish Constitutional Court had later also affirmed this decision.

Despite the Spanish court rulings, Stampa moved his seat of Arbitration to Paris and in February 2022, controversially ruled in favour of the alleged heirs.

It has to be noted that the Spanish courts in the 2021 decision also ruled that Malaysia had to be “properly summoned” and to restart arbitral proceedings, which were first brought by the alleged heirs in 2019 to seek compensation for land in Sabah that was purportedly leased by their ancestors to a British trading company in 1878.

In September, the Netherlands Supreme Court dismissed an appeal by the Sulu heirs to recognise and enforce the controversial award in the Netherlands. And two months later, the French Supreme Court also ruled in favour of Malaysia.

The minister responsible for law and institutional reforms, Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said, said the Paris Court of Appeal would now proceed, in due course, to annul Stampa’s so-called final award.

Following these failures in the courts of law, it was reported last month that the self-proclaimed heirs, through their lawyer Paul Cohen, are contending that they are free to take action against Sabah, either by leasing it to another country — China or the Philippines — or managing their rights without any restrictions.

Azalina rubbished these claims, labelling them as “senseless”, adding that Malaysia would fight back as and when such a case arose.

The minister added that the government would decide whether to seek reimbursement for legal fees, court-related travel expenses and other costs once the entire case is concluded. 

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