Malaysia wins Dutch case over Sulu heirs’ US$15 billion award
- Last year, the Filipino heirs to the last sultan of the Philippine region of Sulu were awarded US$14.9 billion by a Paris arbitration court in a long-running dispute
- Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim welcomed the ruling saying the decision blocked any attempts by claimants to enforce ‘illegitimate claims’
Malaysia does not have to pay around US$15 billion linked to a long-running territorial dispute in the Borneo state of Sabah after a Dutch court refused to enforce the arbitration award.
The Hague court of appeals on Tuesday said it did not recognise that there could be an arbitration award to be made as it dismissed the suit.
“The court dismisses the requests of the Filipino nationals” to demand to execute the arbitration award, the judgment said.
Last year, the Filipino heirs to the last sultan of the remote Philippine region of Sulu were awarded US$14.9 billion by a Paris arbitration court in a long-running dispute with Malaysia over a colonial-era land deal.
They have since sought to seize Malaysian government assets in France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, in a bid to enforce the award.
Malaysia, which did not participate in the arbitration, maintains the process is illegal and has vowed to fight the seizures. It obtained a stay on the award in France but the ruling remains enforceable overseas under a UN treaty on arbitration.