Admiralty Court opens tenders for Equanimity

KUALA LUMPUR: The Admiralty Court has opened today the offers relating to the Equanimity superyacht, which has been linked to the fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, better known by the name from Jho Low.

The auction, which has been open for one month, was closed at 5 pm on Wednesday.

Nevertheless, the lawyer S Sitpah said that the estimated value of the superyacht remained confidential as well as the identity of the bidders.

This was to protect the privacy of the bidders and the integrity of the process until the conclusion of the sale.

"As part of this judicial selling process, we are not free to disclose the number or value of these offers.

"The Sheriff of the High Court of Malaysia has received offers. We must now let the judicial process take its natural course, "said Sitpah today in a statement.

Sitpah, who heads the legal team of the four plaintiffs, said the nature of the forensic sale process is to preserve bidders' confidence that their identities and offers will not be disclosed until the sale is complete. not finished. It also serves to maintain confidence in the judicial sale process.

The plaintiffs are 1MDB and its subsidiaries, MDB Energy Holdings Limited and 1MDB Global Investment Limited and the Government.

Sitpah stated that, as with any purchase of property, several additional steps were to be taken and that the next step would be communicated by the sheriff to the bidders.

"The public, the government of Malaysia and the bidders all want a successful completion. So, let's give it the privacy it deserves to make that happen, "said Sitpah.

Elite market

Sitpah also said that the legal team was satisfied with the way the whole process had been conducted. The government, the courts and Burgess as a central intermediary have received considerable support, he said.

"Given the extremely specialized, specialized and elite market, Equanimity has been open to offers for a short time, we have attracted interest from around the world – Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the United States," said Sitpah.

The legal team and Burgess were also present at the proceedings before the Deputy Registrar.

On August 24, the Admiralty Court granted an Equanimity Sale Application filed by the Government as well as 1MDB and the two subsidiaries.

In the motion filed on August 23, the four plaintiffs named the owner of the ship, Equanimity, of the Cayman Islands, as defendant in the lawsuit brought by the intermediary of the law firm Jeremy Joseph & Partners.

In the notice of application, the four plaintiffs requested that the sale of the vessel, bunkers, fuel, lubricants and other consumable products on board be effected by way of tender or tender. private treaty by the Sheriff of the Admiralty Court.

The plaintiffs wanted the sheriff to receive bids for the vessel and bunkers and the purchase price to be paid to the sheriff in US dollars, euros or ringgits.

They stated that the proceeds from the sale of the ship should be paid to the court and placed in a bank account in Malaysia approved by the accountant general.

The superyacht was brought to Port Klang on August 7, after the Indonesian authorities handed it over to Malaysia.

It was seized off Bali in February at the request of US authorities as part of the corruption investigation launched by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) in 1MDB.