Indonesian authorities have again boarded and seized the superyacht Equanimity after the previous seizure conducted in February had been declared null and void on technical grounds.
This was disclosed by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) in a court filing dated yesterday, which was sighted by Malaysiakini.
It said that the DOJ’s Office of International Affairs had submitted a request for mutual legal assistance (MLA) to the Indonesian Ministry of Law and Human Rights on April 19, which it carried on nearly two months later, on July 9.
“On July 9, 2018, Indonesian authorities executed the process by boarding the Equanimity with a copy of the warrant of arrest in rem.
“During that boarding, the Indonesian authorities adhered a copy of the warrant of arrest in rem on the yacht and handed another copy of the warrant of arrest in rem to the Equanimity’s captain,” reads the filing lodged by the DOJ to the California Central District Court.
The filing is meant to notify the court that the arrest warrant issued by the court on June 16 last year had been executed, and it included pictures of the warrant being served by the Indonesian police aboard the Equanimity.
According to a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) report of the warrant service that was also filed in court, the Indonesian police had informed the FBI that the yacht’s captain was accompanied by a lawyer at the time when the arrest warrant was served.
“The Indonesian National Police believed that the attorney represented the yacht’s owners,” the report said.
The DOJ had lodged a civil forfeiture suit against the US$250 million vessel on June 15 last year as part of a series of 30 civil forfeiture suits aimed at seizing properties that were purported to be the proceeds of misappropriation of 1MDB funds that had been channelled through the US financial system.
It also claimed that the Equanimity is owned by the financier Low Taek Jho through a series of intermediaries. Jho Low had previously claimed that the allegations against him were politically motivated.
On Feb 28, Indonesian authorities boarded and seized the vessel at the DOJ’s request.
However, the South Jakarta District Court ruled that the seizure is invalid because the DOJ’s mutual legal assistance request was channelled directly to the Indonesian police, whereas Indonesian law requires the MLA request to be made through the Ministry of Law and Human Rights.
It is not immediately clear on how the latest seizure will affect the vessel, its crew, and the legal battle for its custody.
On May 15, the California Central District Court had already granted the DOJ protective custody over the vessel after the DOJ argued that the Equanimity’s existing crew cannot be trusted to bring the vessel back to the US to facilitate an interlocutory sale of the vessel pending final disposal of the civil forfeiture suit.
Lawyers representing the Equanimity’s registered owner, Equanimity (Cayman) Ltd, had already filed an appeal against the ruling and the case is still pending at the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
On June 14, the Court of Appeals denied Equanimity’s Ltd’s motion to stay the protective custody order, meaning that the DOJ still has custody over the vessel.
However, the court agreed that the case should be expedited and ordered the court clerk to “calendar this appeal for disposition as soon as possible” after the parties have filed their briefs.
According to the ship tracking service MarineTraffic, the Equanimity is currently anchored at Benoa Bay, off the coast of Bali. -Mkini
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