US seeks to delay seizure of ‘Equanimity’
KUALA LUMPUR: The US Justice Department wants to suspend its legal efforts to take possession of the superyacht Equanimity, impounded as part of a hunt for assets linked to the multi-billion dollar 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal.
The US Justice Department, which had sought custody of Equanimity as part of its anti-kleptocracy investigation into 1MDB, said proceedings in the US courts should be suspended until it finds out what Malaysian authorities would do with the yacht.
“The government proposes that all proceedings in this action be suspended in order to give the government and any interested claimant the opportunity to inquire of Malaysia through formal channels what its intentions are with respect to the defendant yacht,” it said in a filing to the California Central District Court on Monday.
Malaysia’s Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng told reporters on Monday that the government planned to take inventory of items on the yacht and open the vessel for public viewing, before eventually selling it “at the highest price”.
A total of $4.5 billion (173.45 billion baht) was misappropriated from 1MDB by high-level officials of the fund and their associates, according to civil lawsuits filed by the US Justice Department
Malaysian authorities are seeking to arrest Low Taek Jho, the financier who allegedly bought the Equanimity, a 91-metre yacht registered in the Cayman Islands. Lawsuits have identified him as a central figure in the 1MDB scandal.
Mr Low’s whereabouts are currently unknown.
Meanwhile, owners of Equanimity filed a petition in the US court challenging what it said was the “unlawful and extrajudicial” seizure of the yacht. The petition questioned the lawfulness of a warrant issued by the Indonesian police to turn over the vessel to Malaysia.