LEGAL proceedings by government prosecutors to sell the recently seized superyacht Equanimity are going ahead as planned, said a specialist shipping lawyer hired by the Attorney-General’s Chambers.

Sitpah Selvaratnam, however, declined to reveal the date for a hearing on the case at the admiralty court.

“Everything is proceeding as planned,” she told reporters at the sidelines of the International Malaysia Law Conference in Kuala Lumpur today.

Sitpah said further announcements will come from Attorney-General Tommy Thomas.

She also declined to comment on her appointment last week by the government to its legal team, where critics pointed to a conflict of interest as she was from Thomas’ former firm.

Thomas had previously defended hiring Sitpah, saying she was the most qualified, having been the chairman of the shipping and admiralty law committee of the Malaysian Bar and the founding president of the International Malaysian Society of Maritime Law. 

Thomas told reporters on Tuesday that the sale of the RM1 billion vessel is permitted under admiralty law. Ownership of the vessel can be claimed after the sale, upon which the winner in a civil suit will receive the proceeds from a trust account.

The plaintiffs in the suit initiated by the Attorney-General’s Chambers are the government and several 1Malaysia Development Bhd-linked companies, which assert they are the beneficial owners of Equanimity. The Kuala Lumpur high court will determine ownership.

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has said that the government wishes to dispose of the ship as soon as possible, citing monthly maintenance costs of RM2 million.  

Putrajaya in June issued an arrest warrant for Penang businessman Low Taek Jho, commonly known as Jho Low, who is accused of siphoning billions from the 1MDB state wealth fund.

The yacht arrived at Port Klang last Tuesday, courtesy of Indonesian authorities which had impounded the Equanimity in Bali in February at the request of the United States’ Department of Justice, which is also carrying out fraud and corruption investigations into 1MDB.

Lawyers of Low have claimed that the government seizure of the Equanimity was an “illegal act” by Dr Mahathir as the prime minister ignores court rulings in legal proceedings in the US and Indonesia and that the yacht’s owner, Equanimity Cayman Limited, had already filed a claim on this asset. 

“Mahathir has chosen to bring the asset illegally into a rigged Malaysian system manipulated by a man who only cares about his absolute political rule. It is ultimately justice that suffers,” the lawyers said in a statement. – August 16, 2018.