Law minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said the appointment of Spanish arbitrator Gonzalo Stampa had been revoked and was no longer valid.
“On June 29, 2021, at the government’s request, the Superior Court of Justice in Madrid, Spain, revoked Stampa’s appointment as arbitrator. All his actions and decisions are now null and void.
“The Madrid court on Oct 13, 2021, ruled that the Partial Award on Jurisdiction issued by Stampa dated May 25, 2021 is null and void,” he said.
He was replying to Ahmad Hassan (Warisan-Papar), who asked the government to clarify the order by the French arbitration court for Malaysia to pay RM62.59 billion (US$14.92 billion) to the purported heirs of the last Sulu sultan.
Wan Junaidi said the government had taken appropriate action to challenge the decision by filing a case in the Sabah High Court, but the claimant did not attend the court proceedings.
He said the court had ruled on Jan 14, 2020 that the 1878 agreement between the last sultan of Sulu, Baron de Overbeck and Alfred Dent on Jan 22, 1878, did not contain any arbitration provision.
“Malaysia has never waived its sovereign immunity and the arbitrator has no jurisdiction to resolve the matters raised.
“The decision of the Sabah High Court was brought to the Madrid court to be verified and enforced to stop the arbitration proceedings in Spain. Following that, the partial award on jurisdiction issued by the arbitrator on May 25, 2020 has been set aside,” he said.
Wan Junaidi said the claimant had, before Oct 13, 2021, brought the partial award on jurisdiction to France to circumvent the decision of the Madrid court.
On Sept 29, 2021, the French court, unaware of the decision by the Madrid court which had cancelled Stampa’s appointment, issued an exequatur order recognising the partial award on jurisdiction dated May 25, 2020. Based on the order, Stampa moved the arbitration seat from Madrid to Paris to continue the arbitration proceedings.
“In protest of the arbitrator’s action on non-compliance with the Madrid court’s decision, irregularities of process, injustice and contempt for the rule of law, the Malaysian government filed a criminal complaint against Stampa with the Spanish attorney-general on Dec 14, 2021,” he said.
He said Malaysia had also filed an appeal to revoke the exequatur order and an application to stay its implementation.
Wan Junaidi said the government would challenge any enforcement action by the claimant to ensure that the government’s interests were always protected.