This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on August 17, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: The government will work towards seizing the private aircraft owned by fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low, after it is proven that it was bought using stolen money from Malaysia, according to Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Speaking to reporters after the launch of the Cardiac Vascular Sentral Kuala Lumpur yesterday, the prime minister said that it is the government’s utmost priority to prove this before the aircraft, now in Singapore, can be brought back to Malaysia.

“Yes, we will try to get the jet because we are of the opinion that it was bought with money stolen from Malaysia,” he said. “We have to establish that the jet was bought with stolen money. If he (Jho Low) had stolen money from Malaysia, then the jet is ours, just like the boat (Equanimity),” Dr Mahathir added.

According to media reports, the Bombardier Global 5000 aircraft has been grounded at Singapore’s Seletar Aerospace Park since 2017.

Dr Mahathir had said previously that Malaysia was in talks with Singapore to bring the plane back.

Meanwhile, the lawyer acting for troubled 1MDB, Sitpah Selvaratnam, said that investigations into the super yacht Equanimity seized by Malaysian authorities on Aug 7 are progressing as planned. “It [the probe] is going as planned,” Sitpah, a veteran shipping and maritime lawyer, told reporters on the sidelines of the four-day International Malaysian Law Conference 2018 here yesterday.