PETALING JAYA, Aug 9 — A ship manager will be hired for the superyacht Equanimity to ‘preserve’ its value should it go on sale, said Jeremy Joseph, a lawyer representing 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) and the government.

The Star reported the lawyer as saying special care was needed for the US$250 million (RM1 billion) superyacht currently docked at the Boustead Cruise Centre in Pulau Indah, Port Klang.

“We are conscious that it has a high value. Special care has to be taken to manage and preserve that value as much as possible so that when we eventually put the vessel up for sale we can fetch highest possible price,” he said in the report today.

Joseph, who is part of the legal team representing 1MDB, said they were in the process of getting quotations for a qualified and competent ship manager from several companies.

However, the sheriff of the Admiralty court would make a final decision on this, The Star said.

A ship manager would take care of the cleaning needs and make sure that the documentation is updated among other things, Joseph explained.

The Dutch-made superyacht, which purportedly belonged to fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low, docked at the centre at about 1pm on Tuesday (August 7) after leaving Batam, Indonesia.

In February, the yacht was seized in Bali at the request of US authorities as part of the multi-billion dollar corruption investigation launched by the US Department of Justice related to 1MDB.

However, an Indonesian court ruling in April declared that the yacht was wrongfully impounded and should be released to its owners.

Indonesian police seized the boat again on July 9 following a formal request for legal assistance from the United States.

On August 4, Indonesia agreed to hand over to Malaysia the luxury yacht that had been impounded in Bali earlier this year.

Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng had said on Monday he will auction off Equanimity to recover as much money as possible.

He said selling off the yacht belonging to the fugitive financier would be the best option as the cost to maintain its docking would be high.

“Leaving it there every day means we would have to pay the high maintenance cost. It would also just deteriorate, diminish and depreciate in value.

“If we sell it off, it can benefit Malaysians. It costs RM1 billion but I don’t know how much we can get back,” he told reporters.