a 28.5% share in the consortium that acquired the right to explore and develop oil deposits in Block 5A. In 2003, Lundin Petroleum and OMV sold their interest following a public outcry about the role of the consortium in Sudan's oil war. Petronas picked up Lundin's 40.375% working interest for a cash payment of US$142.5 million. As the operator of the consortium, Lundin Petroleum was responsible for day-to-day management. Still, it stood under the supervision of the Operating Committee, that exercised "overall direction and control of all matters pertaining to the Joint Operations and the Joint Property". Petronas was permanently represented in the Operating Committee and has never publicly distanced itself from any of its decisions. Petronas has never publicly responded to the allegations of negative impacts in Sudan or discussed the issue with local communities. The company is not known to have taken adequate measures to prevent involvement in human rights violations during the oil war or to undo the adverse impacts of its consortium's operations. Petronas was a loyal participant in the consortium that operated in Block 5A and had a substantial say in the way it operated. Therefore, the suspicions against the consortium's top managers also concern Petronas. The company is wholly owned by the Malaysian State. According to the UN Guiding Principles, abuse of human rights by a business enterprise that is wholly or partially controlled by a State, may entail a violation of that State's own international law obligations. In early October 2021, the Sudanese transitional government made moves to confiscate Petronas's assets, alleging that they had been acquired through illegal means under the rule of ousted Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. On 11 October, the Sudanese transitional government issued an arrest warrant for Petronas's country manager. In response, the Malaysian Government summoned the Sudanese charge d'affaires and urged the Sudanese government to honour the Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Treaty and to respect the sanctity of the Malaysian Embassy, which was housed in the same complex as the Petronas Sudan Complex in Khartoum. Petronas has also sought to cancel the manager's arrest warrant and submitted a request for arbitration at the World Bank's International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). Middle East Monitor contributor Nasim Ahmed opined that the Sudanese government's actions against Malaysian, Turkish, Qatari and Chinese companies were part of a foreign policy shift to court Western investors. Former federal counsel and