THE Equanimity was seized under the laws of Malaysia, said Attorney-General Tommy Thomas hours after the luxury yacht docked at the Terminal Boustead Cruise Centre in Port Klang this afternoon.

Thomas said the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) had invoked the Admiralty jurisdiction of the High Court of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur against the superyacht.

“And on August 6, 2018, the court issued a warrant of arrest against it. Accordingly, the Equanimity is properly seized under the laws of Malaysia,” Thomas said in a statement this afternoon.

Domestic agencies involved in this operation were the Police, Navy, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and AGC, Thomas said. 

The Equanimity today docked at the Boustead Cruise Centre Terminal in Port Klang at 12.40pm, brought here by Indonesian police under heavy escort by local marine police teams from Johor and Port Klang.

Thomas said the transfer of the yacht to Malaysia was accomplished through sensitive and delicate negotiations under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties (MLAs) between Indonesia, the United States and Malaysia.

The A-G also expressed his gratitude to the US and Indonesia for their cooperation. 

He added that the seizure was done at the initiative of the US Department of Justice, which asserted ownership of the yacht on behalf of Malaysia and 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) because monies “belonging to us” were used to purchase it.

However, Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the US attorney’s office in Los Angeles, said the US was not party to the agreement between Indonesia and Malaysia.

Former prime minister Najib Razak today said that he did not know if funds from the debt-ridden 1MDB were used to buy the Equanimity. – August 7, 2018.