Luxembourg court sets aside seizure of Petronas assets by Sulu 'heirs'

A court in Luxembourg has agreed to set aside an order that allowed purported heirs to the Sulu sultanate to seize Malaysian assets.

This is believed to be in reference to two Petronas subsidiaries that the Sulus seized last year as part of a legal tussle with Malaysia over unpaid lease payments for Sabah.

De facto Law Minister Azalina Othman Said (above), who revealed the development, hailed it as a victory for Malaysia.

Last July, the Sulu claimants won an attachment order to seize Petronas Azerbaijan (Shah Deniz) and Petronas South Caucasus, which are registered in Luxembourg.

In layman's terms, an attachment is a legal process by which a debtor's property, wages, or assets, are transferred to those they owe money.

The Sulu claimants’ seizure of Petronas assets was part of their bid to claim US$14.92 billion (RM63.34 billion as of writing) from Putrajaya in response to Malaysia cutting off annual lease payments of RM5,300 for Sabah to the Sulu sultanate in 2013.

The Sulus had first sought Spanish arbitration in July 2019, and the appointed arbitrator Gonzalo Stampa had ruled in favour of the claimants.

The ruling was then used to seize Petronas’ assets in Luxembourg.

Malaysia had contended that Stampa was unfit to arbitrate in the case as he was under investigation by Spanish prosecutors for alleged contempt of court orders in both Spain and France.

Azalina, in a statement today, said that the courts in Spain have since retroactively invalidated Stampa's appointment and nullified his ruling which was in favour of the Sulus.

This led to Malaysia filing for interim relief by lifting the attachment order and a hearing took place on Dec 5, she added.

"This decision vindicates the government’s policy to vigorously defend Malaysia in every forum to ensure that Malaysia’s interests, sovereign immunity and sovereignty are protected and preserved at all times.

"The government will spare no effort to this end," she said. - Mkini