KUALA LUMPUR, July 15 — Legal action had been taken over the dispute with the heirs of the now-defunct Sulu sultanate ever since Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s time as prime minister despite his claims that the issue resulted from failures of the Pakatan Harapan government, said PKR’s Rafizi Ramli today.

As a result, Rafizi said he intended to file a nationwide police report against the former PM’s failure and negligence that has resulted in leaving state properties of Petronas and other such bodies vulnerable to confiscation around the world.

"Najib is trying to influence perceptions for two reasons: firstly, to play on racial sentiments with the approach of the 15th General Election (GE15); secondly, to shift Malaysians’ opinions from reality which is that legal action leading to the seizure of Petronas assets actually began from Najib’s own decisions from when he was prime minister. In fact, his government was informed about this matter as early as 2017,” Rafizi said.

The former Pandan MP also claimed in a statement that Najib had sought to swing focus towards former attorney general Tommy Thomas to build racial perceptions regarding the PH administration’s choice to appoint non-Malay figures who ultimately went on to pawn the nation’s sovereignty.

Besides that, he referred to paragraph 21 of page 23 of an arbitration decision paper dated February 28 2022, which he enclosed via a Google Drive link, stating that: "Claimants served a preliminary notice of intention to commence arbitration, dated November 2, 2017, pursuant to the Deed (henceforth, the Notice of Intention to Commence Arbitration) at the Embassy of Malaysia in Madrid (Spain”

He also said that Najib had been caught up with the 1MDB scandal when notice of the initial phase of proceedings was handed over, saying that the former PM’s administration was busy with covering up the scandal in its last year prior to losing GE14.

On Tuesday, the Paris Court of Appeal granted leave to Putrajaya’s application to suspend a previous ruling declaring Malaysia’s liability to a billion ringgit settlement claimed by the Sulu sultan’s heirs.

Law minister Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said on Wednesday that the leave meant the previous ruling was not enforceable in any country until an ultimatum is reached in Paris.

Malaysia had ceased payment of RM5,300 cession money to the Sulu sultan heirs in 2013 after an attack on Lahad Datu by self-described ruler Jamalul Kiram III.

This caused Luxembourg authorities to seize the assets of two Petronas subsidiaries on behalf of the Sulu sultan heirs in an effort to enforce an arbitration ruling they had secured against Malaysia.

The issue stems from an 1878 contract signed between the Sulu sultanate descendants’ ancestors and a British trading company, in which land in Sabah was leased in exchange for financial compensation.