Malaysia may have lost a great opportunity to probe deeper into 1MDB because it showed no interest in the seizure of the superyacht Equanimity.
In any investigation, the police would ordinarily look for evidence which is relevant to the complaint before them. It is common for raids to be conducted on premises and assets to be seized and the whole idea behind that is to check for evidence at the premises after the seizure to assist investigations.
For example, when there is a raid on an office, they don’t look at the office as an asset per se but also inspect documents found there. Checks are carried out on files and even contents of computers, emails and so forth to find evidence which will assist in the probe.
So this whole theory that “we are not interested because the yacht does not belong to Malaysia” offered by the Attorney General doesn’t hold water because we are not only concerned with the asset itself but its contents too which could well be of great assistance to the probe into 1MDB and the whereabouts of Jho Low.
With respect, I think the Attorney General needs to explain this. Why are we not showing any interest in the seizure of the yacht which could quite possibly assist with investigations into 1MDB?
The Attorney General himself said on 31st October 2017 that the 1MDB probe is still ongoing as there is a lack of evidence. So why are we turning our backs to what could be of great assistance to us for the purposes of that probe?
The Attorney General must also state if his office will now communicate with his Indonesian counterparts in order to get access to information or evidence recovered from the yacht and if not why not?
This is a matter of serious concern to me and I will be raising it in Parliament next week. The Attorney General cannot keep silent in view of the seizure of the yacht. Malaysia must take each and every step in order to find all the evidence necessary to conclude its probe into 1MDB and to recover any assets or monies it can, if any, in the matter. The Attorney General must rise to the occasion and do the needful forthwith.