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Proceeds of super yacht Equanimity's sale to go to 1MDB's recovery account by August

KUALA LUMPUR: The proceeds from the sale of 1Malaysia Development Bhd-linked super yacht Equanimity have been deposited into a bank account managed by a local law firm.

Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said the US$126 million (RM527.4 million) profit gained from selling Equanimity to Genting Malaysia Bhd was being temporarily stored in a sheriff stakeholders account for three months.

“The proceeds from the sale were received in full on April 23, 2019, and are now being kept in a sheriff stakeholders account managed by a well-known local law firm for three months, for the purpose of settling the maintenance costs of the ship that will be decided by a court ruling,” he said in reply to a question by Datuk Ahmad Jazlan Yakuub (BN-Machang).

The remainder, after deducting the related expenditure, would be placed in 1MDB's recovery account by August and would be used to repay 1MDB's debts.

To a supplementary question, Lim said the principal of 1MDB's debt was as much as RM26.65 billion.

He said to date, the current government had repaid RM8.9 billion of the debt, with the total amount owed by the wealth fund being RM40.57 billion and interest amounting to RM10.44 billion, bringing the total amount of debt owed to RM51.01 billion.

“We hope to get back the losses and compensation from various parties including Goldman Sachs and if we look at assets, the value including real estate assets cannot be estimated as the legal matters have not been completed,” he said.

He said one of 1MDB's assets, Tun Razak Exchange (TRX), had been “detoxified” and the earnings would be known when the project matures in seven years.

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