In June 2017, YachtHarbour has reported that US Government moves to seize 91.5m Equanimity. In March 2017, 90-metre Equanimity seized as captain turned off 'AIS' system to avoid detection. In April 2018, US were blocked from seizing $250 million 91.5-metre superyacht Equanimity. In May 2018, Jho Low ordered to turn over his $250 million 91-metre yacht Equanimity to the US.
Now, 91.5-metre superyacht Equanimity moved to Malaysia after her detention by Indonesian authorities. The US authorities believe that the funds used to purchase Equanimity were siphoned off from the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1MDB between 2009 and 2015. On Monday, Malaysia’s finance minister Lim Guan Eng said the government intends to take an inventory of items on the yacht and open it for public viewing before auctioning it for “the highest price”. The Malaysian government intends to use the sale of the yacht, which is valued at $250 million, to recover some of the funds lost in the scandal.
Equanimity was built by Oceanco in Netherlands at their Alblasserdam shipyard and delivered to her owner in 2014. Equanimity is one of the largest yachts to be completed by the Dutch yard. She has become known for being the first superyacht designed and built to be fully Passenger Yacht Code (PYC) compliant. The yacht's interior has been designed by Andrew Winch. A beautiful combination of wenge wood, bamboo, marble and gold leaf create an Asian-inspired theme throughout Equanimity's interior.
The superyacht features a 20m squared pool on her deck with jets, a private hot tub outside the master suite and a beach club. An indoor-outdoor wellness area is open to all guests and includes a sauna, hammam, plunge pool and beauty salon. Experiential showers are also available on board as well as a helipad on her upper deck.
Equanimity's interior configuration has been designed to comfortably accommodate up to 18 guests overnight in 9 cabins, comprising a master suite, 4 VIP staterooms, and 4 double cabins. She is also capable of carrying up to 28 crew onboard to ensure a relaxed luxury yacht experience.
Propelled by twin MTU 20V 4000 M73L engines, Equanimity is able to reach a top speed in excess of 20 knots. This luxury yacht is also fitted with 'zero speed stabilizers' which work at anchor, increasing on-board comfort when the yacht is stationary, particularly in rough waters.
A spokesperson for Equanimity (Cayman) Ltd, the owners of the yacht, Equanimity, issued the following statement regarding the Malaysian Government’s precipitous taking of the yacht, bypassing judicial proceedings in the US and Indonesia.
"Through recent legal filings we have alerted the U.S. Court that on 2 August 2018, armed officers of the Indonesian National Police (INP) and Malaysian officials commandeered the yacht, reportedly at the behest of Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. This is troubling because pursuant to an order of the Central District of California, the US Department of Justice (USDOJ) was the custodian of the yacht and paying for its maintenance and crew.
Given the claims put out by the Malaysian Prime Minister in recent days, we issue this statement to set a few facts straight:
As far as we are aware, this seizure by the Malaysian Prime Minister and the Malaysian government was not coordinated with the USDOJ in any way, but instead was done in opposition to the USDOJ, which had repeatedly asked that the Equanimity be handed over for return to US territory and had argued to the US Court that it, and only it, is capable of acting as a proper custodian of the yacht and preserving its value. The U.S. Court had accepted this argument by granting the USDOJ custody of the yacht.
Moreover, an Indonesian court ruled on 17 April 2018 that the yacht should be returned to Equanimity (Cayman) Ltd. – its rightful owners – not handed over to anyone else. Following this ruling the INP acknowledged that “as a legal responsibility... the Indonesian National Police shall obey the order of the South Jakarta District Court to immediately return the Equanimity to its owner,” and that “pursuant to the facts disclosed in the court hearings, it can be concluded that the legal owner of the Equanimity... is Equanimity (Cayman) Ltd. and there is no relations between the Equanimity Yacht with the 1Malaysian Development Berhad.”
The Malaysian government ignored all this and took the asset in direct violation of an existing Indonesian court decision and an order of the US court. This is apparently why more than a dozen armed Indonesian police and Malaysian officials boarded the yacht last week without prior notice and forced it to sail to Malaysia. Presumably, had they been cooperating with the US DOJ or intending to abide by either of the court orders in effect, this would not have been necessary.
Major news sources have reported that the Malaysian Prime Minister intervened personally with the Indonesian President through a phone call and/or in person, thereby injecting politics into ongoing legal proceedings in two sovereign nations.
Although the Indonesian and U.S. court proceedings had led to conflicting decisions regarding the status of the yacht, both proceedings at least had been open and transparent, with Equanimity (Cayman) Ltd. being given a fair opportunity to present its positions and arguments. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for whatever actions were undertaken by the Government of Malaysia to seize the yacht. "