KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court (Admiralty) today re-opened the bids of the super yacht Equanimity purportedly linked to fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho after it was closed for bidding yesterday.
However, the court would not disclose the appraised value of the yacht and the identity of the bidders to protect privacy of the bidders and the integrity of the process until the sale is completed.
Counsel Sitpah Selvaratnam, representing 1MDB and the government, said the opening of the bids was by the Sheriff Judicial Commissioner Khadijah Idris, in the presence of the legal team and Burgess, as the central brokers.
“We are pleased with the way the entire process has been conducted with tremendous support and facilitation by the government, the Court, and Burgess in the process of sale,’ she said in a statement.
“Given the extremely niche, specialist and elite market, within the short time the Equanimity was open for offer, we have received interest from around the world such as Asia, Europe, Middle East, and the United States.
“Burgess is the bridge between the super yacht community and the Malaysian legal system, and can vouch for the integrity of this sale process.
“Through Burgess the Malaysian Admiralty Court said to the world what it would do, and through Burgess the world has seen the Malaysian Admiralty Court do what it said it would do.”
She said several more steps needed to be taken to complete the bidding process.
“The nature of the Judicial sale process is to preserve the confidence of the bidders that their identities and offers will not be disclosed until the sale is completed,” she said, adding that it was also to preserve confidence in the judicial sale process.
She said a suitable balance between confidentiality and transparency is created by having Burgess, a complete outsider to the court system and from the yachting market, participate and observe the entire process.
“As the next step, the Sheriff will communicate with the bidders. We all want a successful completion,” she said.
It was reported on Aug 23 that the government, 1MDB and its two subsidiaries, 1MDB Energy Holdings Limited and 1MDB Global Investment Limited, had filed a court order seeking to expedite the sale of the vessel.
The plaintiffs named Equanimity of Cayman Islands as the defendant in the suit filed via the law firm Jeremy Joseph & Partners.
In the notice of application, the four plaintiffs are asking for the sale of the ship, bunkers, fuel, lubricants and other consumables on board to be conducted via public tender or private treaty by the Admiralty Court sheriff.
The super yacht was brought to Malaysia on Aug 7 after the Indonesian authorities handed it over to Malaysia.
It was seized off Bali in February at the request of the US authorities as part of the corruption investigation launched by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) into 1MDB.