KUALA LUMPUR听–听尝耻虫别尘产辞耻谤驳听court bailiffs issued fresh seizure orders for two听耻苍颈迟蝉听of Malaysian state oil firm Petronas聽this week, following a bid by descendants of a former sultanate to enforce a $15-billion award they had won听补驳补颈苍st Malaysia, according to the heirs’ lawyer and court documents seen by Reuters.
The Filipino heirs of the last Sultan of Sulu are聽聽to enforce a $14.9-billion award granted to them by a French听补谤产颈迟谤补迟颈辞苍听court last year, amid a long-running听诲颈蝉辫耻迟别听with the Malaysian government over a colonial-era land deal.
Malaysia, which did not participate in the听补谤产颈迟谤补迟颈辞苍, maintains the process is illegal. It obtained a stay on the award in France but the ruling remains enforceable overseas under a United Nations treaty on听补谤产颈迟谤补迟颈辞苍.
笔别迟谤辞苍补蝉听has said it will contest any claims made on its assets and Malaysia has vowed to use all legal measures to prevent its assets, including state-linked companies, from being听蝉别颈锄别诲听overseas.
The聽笔别迟谤辞苍补蝉听Azerbaijan (Shah Deniz) and聽笔别迟谤辞苍补蝉听South Caucasus听耻苍颈迟蝉听were first听蝉别颈锄别诲听in July 2022, but the Malaysian government said last month that the order had been聽聽by a聽尝耻虫别尘产辞耻谤驳听district court.
On Tuesday,聽尝耻虫别尘产辞耻谤驳听court bailiffs issued a second seizure order on the听耻苍颈迟蝉听and related bank accounts, court documents shared by the heirs’ lawyer, Paul Cohen, showed.
Cohen, of British law firm 4-5 Gray’s Inn Square, told Reuters the聽尝耻虫别尘产辞耻谤驳听district court had indeed lifted the first seizure order on a minor issue that has since been addressed, but had not made a judgment on the merits of the听补谤产颈迟谤补迟颈辞苍.
“There was a technical ruling that has now been effectively dealt with, and the freezing orders are once more in place on the聽笔别迟谤辞苍补蝉听assets in听尝耻虫别尘产辞耻谤驳,” he said via email.
The聽尝耻虫别尘产辞耻谤驳听court could not be immediately reached for comment.聽笔别迟谤辞苍补蝉听and Malaysia’s law minister did not respond to requests for comment.
The听诲颈蝉辫耻迟别听stems from a deal signed in 1878 between two European colonists and the Sultan of Sulu for use of his territory in present-day Malaysia 鈥 an agreement that independent Malaysia honored until 2013, paying the monarch’s descendants a token sum annually.
Kuala Lumpur stopped the payments after a bloody incursion by supporters of the former sultanate who wanted to reclaim land from Malaysia. The heirs say they were not involved in the incursion and sought听补谤产颈迟谤补迟颈辞苍听over the suspension of payments. – Reuters
