A federal judge in Los Angeles said yesterday that she would issue an order shortly on the Department of Justice’s request to get custody of the Equanimity, which is currently in Indonesia.
US district judge Dale Fischer initially ruled in April that the ship could be sailed to the US from Bali, but a court in Jakarta later found that the police hadn’t followed proper procedures and ordered the yacht returned.
Fischer wasn’t persuaded by the argument that her ruling would override orders of a foreign court. She said lawyers for Low and the trusts that hold title to the 300-foot (91m) yacht may want to get their “mandamus papers” ready, referring to their threat to appeal her ruling.
The boat was seized by Indonesian authorities in February at the request of the US. The Equanimity is among more than US$1.5 billion in real estate and other assets that the US alleges Low and his accomplices bought with stolen 1MDB funds.
Jeremy Matz, a lawyer for the trusts that own the yacht for Low’s benefit, said after the hearing that his clients would comply with a final and binding court order to turn over the yacht. Matz reiterated that he would appeal a ruling against his clients.
Newly elected Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said Saturday, three days after he secured a shocking win, that predecessor Najib Razak was barred from leaving the country. Mahathir also said he’d reopen a graft probe targeting the wealth fund and said he was replacing the attorney-general who cleared Najib and instructed the auditor-general to declassify a 1MDB report that was protected by the Official Secrets Act.
Mahathir, who was prime minister from 1981 to 2003 and defected to the opposition in order to stand as their candidate for prime minister, repeatedly called Najib a “thief” on the campaign trail and pledged to revisit the 1MDB issue.
Riza Aziz, a friend of Low and one of the individuals the US alleges was involved in looting the 1MDB fund, is a stepson of Najib. His movie production company Red Granite Pictures agreed to pay US$60 million to settle a forfeiture lawsuit by the US, alleging he financed the “Wolf of Wall Street” with stolen money.
The US and Low’s lawyers are negotiating a sale of the Equanimity while the forfeiture lawsuit is unresolved, but are deeply divided on whether the transaction should take place in the US or the Mediterranean, which the trusts argue is a superior market for superyachts.