A Madrid court has commenced criminal proceedings against Gonzalo Stampa, a Spanish arbitrator responsible for granting $15 billion to the descendants of a former sultan in an ongoing 19th Century dispute with Malaysia over a historical land deal.
The Spanish state prosecutor and Malaysia allege contempt of court, asserting that Stampa disregarded a Madrid court ruling to drop the case and instead transferred it to a Paris court, as stated by Malaysia’s Law Minister Azalina Othman Said. Stampa has chosen not to provide a comment.
The dispute originates from an 1878 agreement between European colonists and the late Sultan of Sulu, covering parts of the southern Philippines and present-day Malaysia on the island of Borneo. Malaysia, adhering to the deal, made annual payments to the sultan’s heirs until 2013 when the payments ceased, leading the heirs to seek arbitration.
Stampa awarded $14.9 billion in February 2022, to the heirs who are pursuing its enforcement against Malaysian government-owned assets globally. Although Malaysia secured a stay on the case in France, the ruling remains globally enforceable under a U.N. arbitration treaty.
Azalina asserted that Stampa’s actions impact Malaysia’s sovereignty and accused him of evading Spanish court oversight. She also raised concerns about the substantial legal fees paid to Stampa, stating, “The amount he awarded is one of the highest in the world for arbitration. It’s a percentage of our GDP. You’re going to bankrupt a country like ours.” Stampa’s fees, disclosed in court documents, totaled about $2.3 million, with the heirs’ $20 million litigation costs supported by Therium, a London-based firm specializing in financing litigation and arbitration cases.
The heirs recently filed a criminal case against the Spanish justice system, claiming interference in the administration of the award, alleging crimes of prevarication, procedural fraud, false documentation, and coercion. The court is yet to decide whether to hear the heirs’ case, and Spain’s High Court has refrained from commenting.
