Malaysian government's international assets at stake as heirs of a 19th century sultan claim $15 billion award

The heirs of a 19th-century sultanate are attempting to take Malaysian government assets all over the world, despite a stay of the case issued by a French judge.Talking to Reuters their attorneys said that the heirsare merelyattemptingto execute a $14.9 billion arbitration verdict they hadobtained against the Southeast Asian country. The verdict in question is in connection to a land deal from the colonial era.TheSultan in question had made a deal with a British trading company in 1878 to allow the company to exploit resources in the territory he controlled, including what is now the oil-rich Malaysian state of Sabah, on the northern tip of Borneo. After gaining independence from Britain, Malaysia took over the deal giving the heirs who arePhilippine nationals an annual token fee.

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However, the payments were terminated in 2013, with Malaysia claiming that Sabah belonged to its territory and that no one else had any claim to it.The heirs who assert that they are the last Sultan of Sulu's successors-in-interest filed a case soon after.

In order to resolve the conflict over the land deal, a French arbitration court ordered Malaysia to pay the amount to the lineal descendants of the last Sultan of Sulu in February.

However, Malaysia announced on Wednesday that a Paris Court of Appeal has stayed the verdict after concluding that the award's execution may violate the nation's sovereignty.

The stay, according to law minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, would stop the award from being implemented while Malaysia seeks to overturn the decision. Malaysia hadn't previously taken part in the arbitration.

However, attorneys for the claimants assert that the February judgement is still enforceable outside of France under the New York Convention, an international arbitration agreement ratified by 170 nations.

According to Paul Cohen, the heirs' principal co-counsel at the London-based law firm 4-5 Gray's Inn Square, "the'stay' that seems to comfort the Malaysian government temporarily delays local enforcement in one country, France itself," adding "It does not apply to the other 169."

(With inputs from agencies)

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