Hajiji: Stampa jailing the final proof of Sulu sultanate fraud

KOTA KINABALU: The jail sentence against Spanish rogue arbitrator Dr Gonzalo Stampa proves that the claims of the so-called Sulu sultanate on Sabah had no basis from the start, says Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor.

The Chief Minister thanked Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reforms) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said and the Federal Government, adding that the decision proved what Sabah has been asserting all this time.

“We thank Azalina and the Federal Government because at last, it is proven that there is no basis to the Sulu claim.

“There are elements of profit making and other forms of benefits, including by the arbitrator Stampa himself,” he told reporters after an event here yesterday.

Hajiji said he hopes that there would be no more of such claims on Sabah.

On Monday, Azalina said Malaysia had secured another landmark victory in Spain following the decision of the Madrid Criminal Court, which found Stampa guilty of contempt of court in criminal proceedings brought by the Spanish Public Prosecutor’s Office and Malaysia.

Stampa was sentenced to six months in prison and was banned from practising as an arbitrator for one year for knowingly and blatantly disobeying the rulings and orders from the Madrid High Court of Justice.

Azalina said the criminal court further found that Stampa had an obligation to comply with the orders of the Madrid High Court of Justice, regardless of his opinion about the validity of such court orders.

Earlier, in a post on X, she said the efforts by the government in addressing and putting a stop to the Sulu fraud have not been in vain and that the government persists in its efforts to annul the final award.

She said previously on June 29, 2021, the Madrid High Court of Justice had issued a final order that annulled Stampa’s appointment and all his procedural actions due to the fact that Malaysia had been improperly summoned in the arbitrator appointment proceedings.

She said as a result, the Madrid High Court of Justice ordered that Malaysia be correctly summoned and for the proceedings to recommence, adding the claimants’ attempt to appeal the said decision failed, which confirmed the annulment of Stampa’s appointment.

She said despite the final and binding order by the Madrid High Court of Justice, Stampa continued to blatantly ignore and disobey the orders of the same court that appointed him and proceeded to change the seat from Madrid to Paris in order to continue with the sham and abusive arbitration proceedings.

The proceedings resulted in the issuance of the purported final award of close to US$15bil (RM69.6bil at current rates) against Malaysia.

Azalina said in advance of delivering his purported final award against Malaysia, Stampa requested and received more than US$2.7mil (RM12.5mil) in “fees” from the claimants via their funder Therium.