Win against Sulu claimants meaningful achievement for Malaysia - Zahid

KUALA LUMPUR - The victory at the international court of justice in the case over the Sulu group's claim against Malaysia is a meaningful achievement for the country, said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

Zahid in his Facebook post today, also congratulated all those involved which led to the government’s success in defending the rights and sovereignty of the country.

"Congratulations to the Malaysian team headed by its chairman (special secretariat chairman who is also Law and Institutional Reform Minister) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said who had been working hard to ensure that Malaysia's sovereignty will continue to be protected," he said.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced that The Hague Court of Appeal in the Netherlands had dismissed the Sulu claimants’ application for recognition and enforcement of a purported arbitral award of US$14.9 billion (RM62.59 billion) to be enforced in the country.

The purported final award was issued by a Spanish arbitrator, Dr Gonzalo Stampa, in Feb 28, 2022 to eight individuals claiming to be heirs of the Sulu Sultanate.

In their bid to enforce the US$14.9 billion final award, the Sulu claimants were reported to have attempted to seize Malaysia’s oil firm Petronas’ assets in Luxembourg, assets in the Netherlands and also targeted Malaysia’s diplomatic assets in France (including part of its embassy).

Earlier, on June 6 the Paris Court of Appeal upheld the Malaysian government’s challenge against enforcing a partial award rendered by Stampa after finding that the arbitrator (Stampa) had wrongly upheld his jurisdiction. - BERNAMA