[UPDATED] Paris Court of Appeal blocks Sulu heirs’ bid to have award enforced

KUALA LUMPUR – The Paris Court of Appeal has issued a stay order on enforcement of the “final award” claimed by heirs of the Sulu sultanate on Malaysian assets, the government said today.

The stay was awarded on March 14 after the appellate court found the challenge filed against an earlier court decision by the heirs “inadmissible”.

“The Court of Appeal of Paris has upheld a stay obtained by Malaysia of the enforcement of a purported final award obtained by the self-proclaimed heirs of the last Sulu sultan.

“Hence, the stay obtained by Malaysia on July 12, 2022 remains,” the government’s special secretariat on the Sulu claimants issue said in a statement.

“It serves to reinforce Malaysia's position that the purported commercial arbitration instituted by the Sulu claimants is without legitimate basis and does affect Malaysia's territorial sovereignty.”

The earlier stay granted on July 12 followed Malaysia’s filing for a stay of the enforcement of the final award of US$14.92 billion (RM62.59 billion) that the Sulu heirs “won” through arbitration by what Malaysia has deemed an unlawful arbitration process.

The Sulu claimants then filed a challenge against that stay order, which the court heard in January this year.

The Sulu claimants are pursuing compensation from Malaysia for territory in Sabah they deem belongs to their ancestors after Malaysia, in 2013, stopped annual payments to the heirs under an 1878 agreement between the old Sulu kingdom and the British North Borneo Company.

Earlier this month, bailiffs from a Paris court were denied access to enter the Malaysian embassy and staff quarters buildings in the French capital purportedly to make a valuation of the properties as part of the heirs’ claims. – The Vibes, March 16, 2023