KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - A $250 million superyacht, impounded as part of a hunt for assets linked to the multi-billion dollar investigation into 1Malaysia Development Bhd, arrived at a port in Malaysia on Tuesday about six months after it was seized.
Seized luxury yacht Equanimity, belonging to fugitive Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho, is brought to Boustead Cruise Terminal in Port Klang, Malaysia August 7, 2018. REUTERS/Lai Seng Sin
The Cayman Islands-flagged Equanimity was first seized in the Indonesian holiday venue of Bali in February at the request of U.S. authorities investigating 1MDB.
The Malaysian state fund is at the center of money-laundering probes in at least six countries, including the United States, Switzerland and Singapore. A total of $4.5 billion was misappropriated from 1MDB by high-level officials of the fund and their associates, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).
The yacht is among assets that included real estate, jewelry and a Picasso painting that the DOJ says were bought with funds stolen from 1MDB.
The yacht cruised into Port Klang, near Kuala Lumpur, amid tight security, flanked by marine police boats, as media and onlookers gathered to catch a glimpse of the ship.
Once docked, dozens of Malaysian enforcement officers boarded to serve an arrest warrant on the vessel, inspect it and question the crew. Indonesia, which had impounded the yacht, handed it over to Malaysia on Monday.
Malaysian Attorney General Tommy Thomas said in a statement that the yacht was brought to Malaysia after legal treaties between Indonesia, the United States and Malaysia were activated.
