The criterion should not be whether the luxury yacht, seized by Indonesian police off Bali on Wednesday, belonged to Malaysia but whether its seizure could help in the probe into investigations into 1MDB, he said.
The lawyer and DAP MP for Puchong was commenting on a reported statement by Apandi that the government would not claim Equanimity “because it does not belong to the Malaysian government”.
Gobind said in a statement today: “The test isn’t whether the yacht belongs to the Malaysian government. If that be the case, then we shouldn’t be freezing and seizing anyone’s personal assets in any case because none of that belongs to the government either.
“The test should be whether or not the asset concerned forms or is related to the subject matter of any probe or investigation be it here in Malaysia or in any other jurisdiction and whether its seizure will assist in that probe or investigation.”
Indonesia impounded the Equanimity after receiving a letter on Feb 21 from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation requesting help to enforce a US court order. According to the US Department of Justice (DoJ), the US$250 million luxury yacht was bought by Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho or Jho Low. He has been named as a key figure in US lawsuits seeking to recover assets allegedly bought using stolen 1MDB money.
Gobind said whether Apandi liked it or not, the 1MDB probe had captured international attention and “the way in which other countries have dealt with it leaves us looking as if we are unable to deal with it at all”.
“It is for these reasons perhaps that Malaysia has fallen in ranks when it comes to the global fight against corruption as well.”
And that was why, Gobind said, Pakatan Harapan had pledged to reform the Attorney-General’s Chambers if it were to come to power. It has also pledged to “take action against all those found to have committed offences in this case or cases related to it if any”, as well as to begin steps to recover as much of the money lost as legally possible.
Reuters reported that over the past 180 days, the Equanimity had sailed from the northeast to the northwest of Malaysia and Singapore, and then from the Indonesian island of Bali to Papua and back again.
The report said 1MDB was 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 was misappropriated from 1MDB by high-level officials of the fund and their associates, according to civil lawsuits filed by the DoJ in the past two years.