INDONESIAN police today questioned the crew of the Equanimity, the yacht that was seized yesterday in Bali, at the request of US investigators probing misappropriation and laundering of funds from 1Malaysia Development Bhd.

Indonesian national police spokesman Muhammad Iqbal Abduh told Reuters law enforcers were looking over their travel documents to check for proof a crime was being committed.

He said police were acting at the request of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which had asked for help to enforce a court order in a letter dated February 21. 

He said, according to information furnished by the FBI, the Automated Identification System (AIS) on the Equanimity had been switched off several times in waters around the Philippines and Singapore, making the vessel harder to track.

Reuters said shipping data on Thomson Reuters Eikon showed that over the last six months, the Equanimity sailed from the northeast to the northwest of Malaysia and Singapore, and then from the Indonesian island of Bali to Papua and back again. Its movements are unclear at several points, likely due to the AIS being switched off.

Indonesian authorities are not looking for Jho Taek Low aka Jho Low, the alleged owner of the RM1 billon yacht and the alleged mastermind behind a scheme to defraud the Malaysian state investment fund of billions of dollars.

“We have an obligation to search for all on the wanted list or (anyone) included on an Interpol red notice. But I have not seen the name,”  National Police special crimes investigation unit head Agung Setya told Reuters.

Following the seizure of the Equanimity, Low yesterday though his lawyer accused the US Department of Justice (DoJ) of “overreach” “based on entirely unsupported claims of wrongdoing”.

Low, whose whereabouts are unknown, said the DoJ had “still not taken any steps to prove that any impropriety has occurred”. 

The DoJ alleges in court filings that US$4.5 billion was looted from 1MDB, set up by Prime Minister Najib Razak.

The suits seek to confiscate  US$1.7 billion in assets allegedly bought with stolen money .

These include the Equanimity, which US officials said was bought by Low with funds diverted from 1MDB.

The Cayman Islands-registered yacht with a capacity for 26 people and which is equipped with a helicopter landing pad, is reported to be worth more than US$250 million. – March 1, 2018.