KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court (Admiralty) has granted an application by the government to appoint a central foreign broker to handle the sale of the luxury yatch Equanimity which purportedly belongs to fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho.
Judicial Commissioner Khadijah Idris meted out the order after hearing submissions from counsel Sitpah Selvaratnam who was representing sovereign state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) and the government.
Sitpah when met after the proceeding said the appointed central foreign broker and an international appraiser will proceed with the documentation process such as advertisement and information memorandum.
“This will allow the potential buyers to know on the specifications and the condition of the yacht.
“The appraiser based in the United Kingdom will start evaluating the ship but the value will be confidential.
“It is a niche market but hopefully we can get a good deal,” she said, adding that the vessel is expected to be sold by the end of this year.
Sitpah also revealed that there was no challenge filed by other parties to claim ownership of the RM1 billion vessel.
On Aug 24, the court granted an application by the government to sell the vessel due to the cost of maintaining security of the yacht and its maintenance cost.
It was reported on Aug 23 that 1MDB, its two subsidiaries, 1MDB Energy Holdings Limited and 1MDB Global Investment Limited and the government filed a court order seeking to expedite the sale of the vessel.
The plaintiffs named the owner of the ship, Equanimity of Cayman Islands, as the defendant in the suit filed via the law firm Jeremy Joseph & Partners.
In the notice of application, the four plaintiffs are asking for 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 or euros or ringgit.
The firms said the 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“, as well as to Wilson Yacht Management Ltd, the company that operates Equanimity.
The superyacht was brought to Malaysia on Aug 7 after the Indonesian authorities handed over it to Malaysia.
It was seized off Bali in February at the request of the US authorities as part of the corruption investigation launched by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) into 1MDB.