Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 30): The Sulu sultanate heirs’ intention to enforce a questionable award in the Dutch courts against Malaysia’s assets in the Netherlands would be an abuse of any court process, said de facto law minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar.

The Edge reported on Sept 29 that lawyers acting for the heirs of the late Sulu sultan, Sultan Jamalul Kiram II, are understood to be in the process of submitting an application to the Dutch courts to seize assets belonging to Petronas.

Petronas via Dutch companies, such as Petronas Carigali Canada BV, Petronas International Power Corporation BV and PLI (Netherlands) BV, has extensive assets in Canada, India and Indonesia among others.

In a statement, the minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) said this latest attempt by “the purported heirs of the long defunct Sulu sultanate” to seize Malaysia’s alleged sovereign assets in the Netherlands “is nothing more than yet another opportunistic act perpetrated in breach and contravention of international arbitration rules and norms under the New York Convention and The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL)”.

“I must stress here that Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas)’s assets are not assets belonging to the Government of Malaysia and it would be an abuse of the process of any court to seek enforcement against such assets,” said the minister.

“Malaysia respects and is a proud signatory to the New York Convention. However, Malaysia will not tolerate or capitulate to those who cynically seek to manipulate and abuse the system for personal gain or profit,” he added.

The purported Sulu sultanate heirs had in February this year obtained a favourable award from a Spanish arbitrator in Paris for a claim of US$14.92 billion against Malaysian government assets.

The Malaysian government disputes this claim and the award.

This award thus opens up the floodgates for the purported heirs to then go to the courts of individual countries, wherever the Malaysian government has assets, to seek recognition and enforcement of this claim.

The purported heirs began with Luxembourg, at which two Petronas assets were registered, and now they are seeking to unlock their claim in the Netherlands.

In the statement, Wan Junaidi said Malaysia’s main position is that the impugned award rendered in Paris in February 2022 was obtained irregularly and in circumstances of illegality, Wan Junaidi added.

“Additionally, no award should be enforced where doing so, its unjust action will cause severe repercussions to the stability of another country,” he said.

He added that Malaysia will “spare no expense” in defending its sovereignty and its assets abroad, wherever they may be situated.

The minister reiterated that the award granted by the arbitrator in February was illegal and highly abnormal on many different grounds.

“Taking one example, the seat of arbitration was moved — in breach of Spanish arbitration law — from Spain to France, after the Superior Court of Madrid had declared as nullities, both the appointment of the arbitrator and the subsequent arbitral proceedings,” he explained.

“Nonetheless, the purported Sulu heirs continue their efforts to attempt to enforce the impugned award opportunistically in nation-states where Malaysia has dealings,” he added.

Wan Junaidi said the government has taken court proceedings in France and Spain to set aside and render the February award null, and it is confident that these proceedings will be resolved in Malaysia’s favour.

Malaysia has instituted legal proceedings in Luxembourg and will take similar steps in the Netherlands to resist and set aside any attempt by the purported Sulu heirs to enforce or obtain a benefit from the impugned award, the minister said.

It has initiated a global strategy to proactively resist and set aside any attempt by the purported Sulu heirs to seize or otherwise interfere with Malaysian assets abroad, he added.

Edited ByAdam Aziz
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