Malaysian assets at risk globally as Philippine heirs of sultan claim US$15 billion award
- Heirs said to be successors to Sultan of Sulu, who entered a colonial deal in 1878 with a British trading company to exploit resources in his territory
- Lawyers say many Malaysian government-owned assets in 169 nations are eligible in order to enforce payment to heirs, who are Philippine nationals
The heirs of a 19th century sultanate are seeking to seize Malaysian government assets around the world in a bid to enforce a $14.9 billion arbitration award they won against the Southeast Asian nation, despite a temporary stop on the case by a French court, their lawyers told Reuters.
A French arbitration court in February had ordered Malaysia to pay the sum to the descendants of the last Sultan of Sulu to settle a dispute over a colonial-era land deal, but Malaysia said on Wednesday the Paris Court of Appeal had ‘stayed’ the ruling, after finding that enforcement of the award could infringe the country’s sovereignty.
Law minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said then that the stay would prevent the award from being enforced as Malaysia works to set aside the ruling. Malaysia had not previously participated in the arbitration.
Lawyers for the claimants, however, say the February ruling remains legally enforceable outside France through the New York Convention, a UN treaty on international arbitration recognised in 170 countries.
“The ‘stay’ that seems to comfort the Malaysian government temporarily delays local enforcement in one country, France itself,” said Paul Cohen, the heirs’ lead co-counsel, of London-based law firm 4-5 Gray’s Inn Square.
“It does not apply to the other 169.”
With some exceptions, such as diplomatic premises, any Malaysian government-owned asset within nations party to the UN convention is eligible for the purposes of enforcing the award, said Elisabeth Mason, another lawyer for the heirs. Wan Junaidi, the Malaysian law minister, declined to comment.