#PhilippineterritoryofSulu

[brijeshtiwaripune]

Why Malaysia Owes A Sultan's Heirs $15 Billion

The descendants of the last sultan of the isolated Philippine territory of Sulu are attempting to enforce a $15 billion arbitration verdict in a dispute over a colonial-era property sale, and Malaysia is trying to protect its investments. Two European colonists agreed to utilise the sultan's territory in what is now Malaysia in 1878; independent Malaysia upheld this agreement until 2013, paying the monarch's heirs around $1,000 year. 144 years after the original agreement, Malaysia is now liable for the second-largest arbitration judgement ever for discontinuing the payments following a deadly incursion by followers of Sultan Mohammed Jamalul Alam's descendants that resulted in the deaths of over 50 persons. Paul Cohen, a principal co-counsel for the sultan's heirs at the British legal firm 4-5 Gray's Inn Square, described the case as "fascinating and peculiar." Despite serving two Petronas subsidiaries in Luxembourg with a seizure order in July to implement the award the heirs had won in February, Malaysia had for years mostly rejected the claims. According to Reuters' conversations with key players in the case and legal documents that it has access to, the arbitration decision in France came after an eight-year legal battle by the heirs and $20 million in money that were generated for them from unnamed third-party investors. Read the full article