THE Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) will “look into” the reported seizure of two Petronas subsidiaries based overseas as part of a court order over the dispute between heirs of the Sulu sultanate and the Malaysian government.

Free Malaysia Today reported the AGC as saying in a brief statement that it “had been informed” and that “we are looking into the matter”.

This breaks Putrajaya’s silence over a Financial Times news report earlier today that the offices of two subsidiaries of the national oil company – Petronas Azerbaijan (Shah Deniz) and Petronas South Caucasus – based in Luxembourg, have been taken over by court bailiffs.

The “seizure” follows a ruling by a French court of arbitration in March that Malaysia must pay the Sulu heirs RM62.6 billion for ceding Sabah to British interests in 1878, which were then later passed to Malaysia.

Putrajaya had been paying the heirs an annual stipend of RM5,300, but cancelled this payment following the Lahad Datu incursion in 2013.

The ruling has not been recognised by Malaysia, with Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar telling the Dewan Rakyat in March that this was because the powers of arbitrator Gonzalo Stampa had been revoked.

In April, after the ruling, former attorney-general Tommy Thomas said while he was AG, his office dismissed the arbitration bid in a London arbitration court, as it was deemed an illegitimate move. He said Stampa was also a “rogue” international arbitrator.

Kota Kinabalu MP Chan Foong Hin this evening slammed Putrajaya and Petronas for negligence in allowing the seizures to happen.

Prominent lawyer Haniff Khatri Abdulla also wrote a Facebook post urging Attorney-General Idrus Harun to explain why the seizures had happened. – July 12, 2022.