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Coincidence? DOJ says Equanimity ‘went dark’ after 1MDB civil suits
Published:  Apr 18, 2018 8:57 AM
Updated: 1:00 AM

The Equanimity had been transmitting its location data “many times a day” up to June 14 last year, one day before the US Department of Justice (DOJ) filed its civil forfeiture suits involving 1MDB, which included the seizure of the superyacht.

Since then, according to the DOJ, the Equanimity’s automatic identification system (AIS) had not transmitted for up to almost a month at a time.

“After that date, the AIS system went dark for several substantial periods of time: nearly a month; six days; and two weeks.

“Either this is an extraordinary coincidence, or the AIS system went dark in response to this forfeiture case,” said Woo S Lee, deputy chief of the DOJ’s money laundering and asset recovery section's international unit, in court filings lodged at the California Central District Court on Monday.

The US$250 million Equanimity was seized by the department two months ago in Indonesia as part of its civil forfeiture suits aimed at confiscating the proceeds of allegedly misappropriated 1MDB funds, that it believes were been funnelled through the US financial system.

In particular, the DOJ claims that businessperson Low Taek Jho is the beneficial owner of the superyacht – although Low claims that the allegations against him are politically motivated, while 1MDB insists that its money had not gone missing.

The Equanimity is currently moored off the coast of Teluk Benoa, Bali, at the time Monday's filing was made.

Yesterday, a South Jakarta court invalidated the seizure of the yacht by Indonesian police - a day after the DOJ made its filing.

Nevertheless, the filing suggests that this would not have a significant impact on its attempts to seize the vessel...

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