The owners and operators of the Equanimity have applied for the superyacht to be parked in Indonesia and to have its original crew maintain it while investigations are underway.

In defence filings to the US District Courts for the Central District of California yesterday, the claimants disagreed with the US Department of Justice’s attempt to appoint the US government as the custodian of the yacht.

They applied for an ex parte emergency order that would bar the US government from taking any action that would “jeopardise the value” of the US$250 million (RM1 billion) vessel.

“The claimants ask that the court specifically direct as part of the emergency order...that the defendant asset shall remain in Indonesia for the duration of the order, unless a court orders otherwise.

“(And) the claimants are permitted to continue maintaining the defendant asset in the manner that best preserves its value,” said Naeun Rim, the lawyer representing the claimants, in documents sighted by Malaysiakini.

Malaysian businessperson Low Taek Jho (photo), whom the DOJ again identified as the person who purchased the superyacht with funds “stolen and embezzled from 1MDB”, is fighting the forfeiture through four companies.

The four firms, who are listed as claimants in the filing, are Equanimity (Cayman) Ltd, Equanimity Crew (Cayman) Ltd, Equanimity Lifestyle (Cayman) Ltd and Equanimity Operations and Maintenance (Cayman) Ltd.

‘No legal basis to seize yacht’

In her reasoning for the case, Rim argued the US Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Feb 28 seizure of the yacht in Bali was “illegal” and executed in a manner “calculated to generate maximum press exposure”.

She claimed that the FBI had “no jurisdiction” in Indonesia and similarly, had “no lawful basis” to claim possession of Equanimity.

Rim also claimed that the US government wanted to replace the yacht’s existing 55-member crew with eight inexperienced individuals, and then transport it to the US without completing repairs to the vessel.

The government also had intentions to sell the vessel through an interlocutory sale that would “wholly fail to maximise its value”, she said.

Labelling it an “ill-conceived plan,” she said these actions would threaten not only the safety of crew members but also the value of the superyacht.

“This plan clearly demonstrates that the government does not know how to properly maintain or market a luxury yacht as unique and distinctive as the Equanimity.

“The claimants instead propose that the government permit the current crew to continue maintaining the yacht in Indonesian territory while the parties jointly explored an interlocutory sale that would best preserve value and, if necessary, litigated the propriety of the government’s seizure,” she said in the filing.

Yacht was trackable ‘at all times’                

Meanwhile, Rim refuted claims by the FBI and Indonesian police that the yacht had switched off its automated identification system (AIS) in its attempt to evade detection.

“The claimants have never sought to evade the lawful execution of process.

“The defendant asset has at all times been trackable through its long range identification and tracking system,” she argued.

As plaintiffs in the forfeiture, the DOJ argued that it had resorted to such measures because the claimants could not be trusted to deliver the yacht to the US by themselves.

“There is good reason to order claimants to tender the yacht to the government’s custody, rather than simply ordering claimants to bring the yacht to the US themselves.

"Claimants might not be trusted to bring the yacht into the US, even under court order.

"After all, they have already obstructed the court’s arrest warrant in rem. It is hardly far-fetched to think that they might also obstruct or defy an order to sail the yacht to the US," it had said.

The latest US filing came amid an attempt by Malaysia to introduce an Anti-Fake News Bill in Parliament which carries a punishment of up to 10 years imprisonment or RM500,000 fine.

Deputy Communications and Multimedia Minister Jailani Johari had told Parliament that any information and had not been verified about 1MDB, apart from what was in the Public Accounts Committee report, would be considered "fake news."

However, Communications and Multimedia Minister Salleh Said Keruak yesterday told a gathering of foreign correspondents that US DOJ filings on 1MDB would not be considered "fake news".

"You can quote them, what did they say, based on the filings. It is not considered fake news. It's their views. Like DOJ, you quote them, what they said," he stated.

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