PETALING JAYA: Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said announced that Gonzalo Stampa, a Spanish arbitrator, has been sentenced to six months in prison for contempt of court.
“Malaysians can celebrate as rogue arbitrator Gonzalo Stampa has been found guilty of contempt of court and sentenced to six months in prison by the Spanish courts, along with a year-long ban from practising as an arbitrator,” said Azalina.
“The efforts by the government in addressing and putting a stop to the Sulu Fraud have not been in vain.”
ALSO READ : Spanish court yet to set date to deliver verdict in Stampa trial, says Azalina
“We persist in the fight for justice, and will continue our efforts to annul the Final Award,” the Minister in charge of Law and Institutional Reforms said in a post on platform X, formerly known as Twitter, on Monday (Jan 8).
In December, a Minister in the Prime Minister Department traveled to Spain to monitor the trial against Stampa at the Criminal Court of Madrid.
Stampa was charged for “unqualified professional practice” for ordering Malaysia to pay US$14.92 billion to the self-proclaimed heirs of the so-called Sulu Sultanate.
On June 29, 2021, the Madrid High Court of Justice issued a judgment, ruling that Malaysia had been improperly summoned in arbitrator appointment proceedings as a foreign state.
ALSO READ : Malaysia believes Spanish court will deliver justice in ex-arbitrator Stampa’s trial
The court annulled Stampa’s appointment, all his procedural actions, and ordered that Malaysia be properly summoned to restart arbitral proceedings.
The annulment of Stampa’s appointment was later upheld by the Spanish Constitutional Court after a failed appeal by a few Filipino citizens.
Stampa was involved in a legal case concerning Malaysia and the Sulu sultanate ‘heirs’.
The outcome of this case was significant for Malaysia as it could potentially annul all decisions made by Stampa.
The case against Stampa was seen as an important step in addressing what the Malaysian government considered to be fraudulent and baseless claims against the country by the so-called Sulu sultanate heirs.
