Court rules govt owns superyacht, free to sell it

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court yesterday declared that the superyacht 'Equanimity' belonged to the Malaysia government and 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) as the beneficiary owner when its registered owner failed to be in court to claim the vessel.

To that effect, the government is now free to sell the super yacht, said lawyer Sitpah Selvaratnam, who is leading the legal team for the government, 1MDB and two others which had applied for a judgment in default (JID) against the registered owner of ‘Equanimity' over the selling of the super yacht.

She said the decision was made in chambers by Judicial Commissioner Datuk Khajidah Idris.

"The court today has declared that the two 1MDB companies which are 1MDB Energy Holdings Limited dan 1MDB Global Investment Limited to be the legal and beneficial owner of the vessel. Therefore, indirectly the government of Malaysia be the ultimate beneficiary of this two companies.

"Now, the vessel can be sold without any legal restriction. The defendant, even though, (it) has knowledge on this, but did not appear until today. It's not surprising because the claim and evidence is overwhelming and they would have difficult to deny that 1MDB and the government own the vessel,” she said

Besides 1MDB and the government, the other two plaintiffs are MDB Energy Holdings Limited and 1MDB Global Investment Limited, which are 1MDB subsidiaries.