KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court of Justice of Madrid has upheld its 2021 decision to annul the judicial appointment of Gonzalo Stampa as arbitrator in the Sulu case after dismissing the Sulu claimants’ attempt to revoke it.
In a statement, the government’s special secretariat on the Sulu claimants’ case said following the court’s latest decision dated Feb 11, 2025, the Sulu claimants were also ordered to pay costs to the Malaysian government.
“The decision confirms that the annulment request of the Sulu claimants ‘lacks the minimum evidentiary rigour and consistency’, as it is based on the mere opinions and speculations of a press article, not real evidence.
“The High Court of Justice of Madrid also expressly indicates that its magistrates were never pressured nor did they allow themselves to be pressured in any way,” the statement read.
It further stated that the decision to annul Stampa’s judicial appointment as arbitrator was based solely and exclusively on the legal reasons contained in the June 29, 2021 ruling, which was final and binding ever since it was issued.
“Malaysia welcomes this ruling from the Spanish courts, which vindicates the government’s policy to vigorously defend Malaysia in every court and forum, exercising all its powers, rights and resources to ensure the end of the Sulu Fraud and that Malaysia’s interests, sovereign immunity and sovereignty are protected at all times,” it said.
According to the statement, the High Court of Justice of Madrid issued a final and binding decision on June 29, 2021, in line with its case law, ruling that, as a foreign State, Malaysia had been improperly summoned to arbitrator appointment proceedings.
The Court therefore annulled Mr Stampa’s judicial appointment as arbitrator and all of his procedural actions in the so-called Sulu case and ordered that Malaysia be properly summoned and the proceedings for the appointment of a new arbitrator restarted.
The annulment of the appointment was later confirmed by the Spanish courts after a failed constitutional appeal by the Sulu claimants.
On December 2023, the Sulu claimants filed a brief before the High Court of Justice of Madrid in an attempt to have the court annul its June 29 decision to nullify Stampa, on the sole and exclusive basis of a press article according to which the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs had allegedly exerted political pressures on the court due to Spanish economic interests with Malaysia.
Malaysia duly opposed this annulment request as the Sulu claimants’ brief was totally baseless.
