FRENCH bailiffs have failed to enforce a seizure order on three properties owned by the Malaysian government in Paris in a case linked to a US$15 billion (RM67 billion) court award to descendants of a former Sulu sultan, Reuters reported.

They attempted to assess the properties yesterday following a court-issued order last December, but officials at the Malaysian embassy in Paris turned them away, the heirs’ lawyers and the Malaysian government said.

The heirs are seeking to enforce a US$14.9 billion award granted to them by a French arbitration court last year to settle a dispute with the Malaysian government over a colonial-era land deal.

Malaysia, which did not take part in the arbitration, maintains the process was illegal and has obtained a stay on the ruling in France.

The Paris properties are only the third set of Malaysian assets that the heirs have publicly acknowledged going after.

They have secured a seizure order for Luxembourg units of state oil firm Petronas and have sought permission from a court to seize assets in the Netherlands.

Despite the stay, a French judge in December last year granted the heirs’ request to seize three Malaysian government properties in Paris to settle a debt of €2.3 million (RM11 million) that they said was owed to them, according to court documents shared by the heirs’ lawyers.

The seizure attempt in Paris has not been reported previously. – March 7, 2023.