US ambassador to Malaysia Kamala Shirin Lakhdhir declined to weigh in on the seizure of the 1MDB-linked businessperson Jho Low's superyacht Equanimity, asking that queries be referred to the US Department of Justice.

She was asked whether the proceeds from the seizure of the yacht, believed to have been acquired using misappropriated funds from 1MDB, would eventually be repatriated to Malaysia.

“This is the part of the asset forfeiture matter that is already been happening with other items, so this also falls within what is already been happening.

“Anything further on this, I really have to refer you to the DOJ because it is an ongoing criminal investigation and enforcement action. I have no further comment, and truth is, it falls completely within the DOJ’s responsibility,” she told a press conference in Kuala Lumpur today.

The government and Finance Ministry-owned 1MDB have refused to acknowledge that money had been misappropriated from the Malaysian fund.

This had also prompted the Swiss government to absorb CHF95 million (RM400 million) from 1MDB-linked funds seized from several banks, citing the absence of any claimant.

The Equanimity was seized by Indonesian police accompanied by US Federal Bureau of Investigation agents on Feb 28, off the coast of Benoa, Bali, to enforce a US arrest warrant issued June last year. 

The DOJ had declined to comment on the matter when contacted by Malaysiakini, while Low decried it as a sign of DOJ’s global overreach. 

Attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali said the government would not claim the yacht because it does not belong to the Malaysian government.

In its civil forfeiture suit filed last year, the DOJ claimed that the 300-foot (91.4m) yacht was built and maintained using over US$250 million (RM1 billion) siphoned from 1MDB and funnelled through multiple accounts. 

The civil forfeiture suit was part of the DOJ’s Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative (Kari), and its 1MDB-relation actions represent the largest action under the initiative’s with almost US$1.7 billion worth of assets being seized. 

The initiative seeks to return the proceeds of grand corruption to their source countries. However, the 1MDB-related suits had been put on hold pending a criminal investigation.

On another matter, Lakhdhir said there is still no change in situation for Malaysia in the US’ visa waiver programme

Previously in January, the New Straits Times had quoted Lakhdhir as saying that the US administration under President Donald Trump is not looking to include new countries under the programme pending a study on immigration issues, and has yet to set a time frame to lift the freeze.

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