‘Equanimity’ bidders must put up US$1 million deposit
KUALA LUMPUR: Those interested in owning the US$250 million (RM1 billion) super yacht Equanimity will have to pay a US$1 million deposit to qualify as a bidder, said the High Court (Admiralty).
Ong Chee Kwan, a lawyer representing 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), said the bidding would begin on Monday and last for a month.
“Today (yesterday), the court approved the terms and conditions for the sale, and the information will be released to the public soon.
“We will put an advertisement in local and international papers, together with the contact details of the central agent.
“We will vet the bidders, and those qualified have to put in a deposit of US$1 million because we want only serious bidders,” he said outside the courtroom yesterday.
He said it was not an online bidding exercise, and those who qualified to become bidders would receive an offer form that would indicate that they accepted the conditions of the sale and the bidding value.
“The offer form will be put in a sealed envelope and sent to the sheriff (judicial commissioner Datuk Khajidah Idris). The sheriff will select the bidding based on the ship’s appraisal report.
“The appraisal report is confidential and only the sheriff will know the details of the vessel,” he said, adding that the sheriff would fix a date to announce the successful bidder.
Ong said bidders could view the vessel’s condition survey report and inspect the yacht during the month-long bidding period.
“We hope the yacht will no longer be in our disposal by December.”
On Oct 19, the High Court ruled that the government, 1MDB and two 1MDB subsidiaries were the rightful owners of the yacht.
This, the court ruled, was because funds from 1MDB, a company fully controlled by the Finance Ministry, were used to purchase the vessel.
On Oct 5, the court granted an application by the government to appoint a central foreign broker to handle the sale of the vessel.
It was reported on Aug 23 that the government, 1MDB and its two subsidiaries, 1MDB Energy Holdings Ltd and 1MDB Global Investment Ltd, had filed a court order seeking to expedite the sale of the vessel.
The plaintiffs named Equanimity of Cayman Islands as the defendant in the suit filed via law firm Jeremy Joseph & Partners.
In the notice of application, the four plaintiffs sought the sale of the ship, bunkers, fuel, lubricants and other consumables on board to be conducted via public tender or private treaty by the Admiralty Court sheriff.
The firms want the sheriff to receive bids or offers for the vessel and the bunkers, and for the purchase price to be paid to the sheriff in US dollars, euros or ringgit.
The firms said proceeds from the sale of the vessel should be paid to the court and placed in a bank account in Malaysia as approved by the accountant general.
A writ of summons was issued on Aug 6 to the “owner of the vessel” and to Wilson Yacht Management Ltd, the company that operates Equanimity.
Indonesian authorities handed over the yacht to Malaysia on Aug 7. It was seized off Bali in February at the request of the United States authorities as part of a corruption investigation by the US Department of Justice into 1MDB.