BIDS for the super yacht Equanimity, which has been on the auction table for a month, will be unsealed this afternoon at the Kuala Lumpur High Court.

With the auction ending at 5pm today, the sheriff of the High Court of Malaya, Mohd Zamir Suhaimee, will open the sealed bids sent by potential buyers. Ownership will go to the highest valid bid.

The number of bids or their amounts may never be publicised, said lawyer Jeremy Joseph, who is representing 1Malaysia Development Bhd.

“It is held by the sheriff.”

The sheriff also holds the sealed appraisal note, which sets the court-approved value of the yacht. The government is expected to consider other sale options if all the bids are lower than the note.

Prospective buyers had to put down a deposit of US$1 million (RM4.2 million) each to qualify for bidding.

Proceeds from the sale of the yacht, which was seized under the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act (AMLA), will be placed in a fixed-deposit trust account, said Attorney-General Tommy Thomas in August.

Bidding was given the green light last month by the Kuala Lumpur Admiralty Court, which declared that the government and 1MDB are the beneficiary owners, and that the government is free to sell the super yacht.

The 91.5m-long Equanimity went on sale on October 27 after Malaysia took possession of it from Indonesia, where the yacht was first seized as part of an asset-recovery operation by the US Department of Justice in its probe into stolen 1MDB funds.

Lawyers expect “no issues” will crop up regarding the subsequent ownership of the vessel.

The sales agent, yacht broker Burgess, said on its website that the judicial sale will provide the buyer with an “internationally recognised ownership title free of mortgage, attachment and all encumbrances”.

The vessel belonged to Penang-born businessman Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low, who bought it for US$250 million using 1MDB-linked funds in 2014.

Putrajaya in June issued an arrest warrant for Low, who is accused of siphoning off billions from 1MDB. – November 29, 2018.