According to the lawyer, Rando Purba, his client Rolf Sieboldt-Berry, a South African national, told investigators that he only knew the vessel, Equanimity, was owned by a company.
“As far as the captain is concerned, what he knows is that the yacht is owned by a company registered in Cayman Islands.
“He doesn’t know the person behind the company because he did not see its documents,” Purba told the news portal.
Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Indonesian police spokesman Muhammad Iqbal announced in a statement in Jakarta on Thursday that they would declare Sieboldt-Berry a suspect for not turning over property wanted in assets seizure and for allegedly trying to avoid detection. Iqbal said he could be liable under money-laundering laws for trying to hide a wanted asset.
Reuters had reported on Thursday that police seized the yacht after receiving a letter on Feb 21 from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) requesting help to enforce a court order.
Iqbal said police had questioned the captain and crew and would check their immigration papers and see if there was any evidence of a crime being committed.
“Sieboldt-Berry was questioned for six hours at the Bali district police station on Monday as a witness. Specifically, he was asked whether he knew the director of the company that owned the yacht,” Purba was quoted as saying by Mkini.
He added that his client had worked on board the yacht for three years, from March 2015, and was appointed temporary captain in April last year.
Purba also said he was not aware of any link between the ship and Malaysian businessman Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low, saying “I only know the name from media reports”.
“Indonesian police had also not brought up Jho Low’s name when questioning the ship’s captain,” he said.
On Wednesday, Indonesia said it had seized the luxury yacht, which was moored at Benoa Bay on the island of Bali.
The vessel was sought by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) as part of a multi-billion dollar corruption investigation linked to Malaysian state fund 1MDB.
“We have been inspecting the crew since yesterday and now we are taking action, since we have received approval from the court,” Agung Setya, director of economic and special crimes at Indonesia’s criminal investigation bureau, told Metro TV.
Television broadcast images of Indonesian officials talking to the crew on board the Equanimity.
There were 34 crew on board, said Setya, adding that Indonesian authorities had worked with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on the money laundering case, although he could not say how the investigation would proceed.
1MDB is at the centre of money-laundering probes in at least six countries, including the United States, Switzerland and Singapore.
A total of US$4.5 billion (RM17.6 billion) was misappropriated from 1MDB by high-level officials of the fund and their associates, according to civil lawsuits filed by the DOJ in 2016 and 2017.
Prime Minister Najib Razak set up 1MDB in 2009 and previously served as chairman of its advisory board. He and the fund have denied any wrongdoing.
In August 2017, the DOJ asked for a stay on its civil lawsuits seeking to seize more than US$1.7 billion in assets allegedly bought with stolen 1MDB funds because it was conducting a related criminal probe.
Among the assets sought were a US$250 million luxury yacht bought by Jho Low, who is named as a key figure in the US lawsuits.
The lawsuits said Low used proceeds diverted from 1MDB to procure Equanimity, which it described as a 300-foot (91-metre) yacht registered in the Cayman Islands.
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