Paris court annuls final award in Sulu claim

10 December 2025

KUALA LUMPUR: The Paris Court of Appeal has annulled in its entirety the purported final award from arbitrator Gonzalo Stampa granted on 28 February 2022, and ordered the so-called Sulu claimants to pay €200,000 (RM957,140) in costs to Malaysia.

In a statement today, the Sulu Secretariat Special War Room said the court, in its ruling yesterday, affirmed that Stampa had no jurisdiction to issue the "purported final award" as there was no valid arbitration agreement binding Malaysia.

“Malaysia trusts that this victory will put an end to all the baseless attempts from the so-called Sulu claimants (and their litigation funder, Therium) to extort money and assets from the people of Malaysia.

“In any event, Malaysia stands ready to continue its fight before any court called upon by the so-called Sulu claimants,” it said.

The statement further reiterated Malaysia’s firm commitment to defend its sovereignty, immunity and national interests against what it described as “baseless claims made in the Sulu fraud”.

Previously, eight citizens of the Philippines, who claimed to be heirs of the defunct Sulu sultanate, filed for arbitration proceedings in Spain seeking billions of dollars from Malaysia over Sabah.

In March 2019, a Madrid court appointed Stampa as the arbitrator for the case. In February 2022, Stampa issued a Final Award holding that Malaysia owed the Sulu heirs US$14.9 billion.

Two French courts had previously rejected the partial award, finding that Stampa had no valid basis to assume jurisdiction.

On 6 June 2023, the Paris Court of Appeal refused to recognise or enforce the partial award on the grounds that no valid arbitration agreement existed to bind Malaysia.

The French Supreme Court subsequently dismissed the claimants’ challenge to that ruling on 6 November 2024.