PETALING JAYA: The United States Department of Justice (DoJ) has not shown any “tangible proof” that Malaysian businessman Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low, is the owner of a yacht seized in Indonesia, said Datuk Seri Dr Salleh Said Keruak.

“Until today, apart from bare allegations contained in the DoJ civil lawsuit, which has been put on hold since August last year, the DoJ has not shown any tangible proof that Low is the actual owner of the yacht or that it was purchased with funds from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

“Furthermore, the DoJ has yet to prove any of its allegations in a court of law, despite nearly two years passing since its sensationalised press conference of July 2016,” said the Communications and Multimedia Minister in his blog Thursday (March 1).

He added that the Opposition, however, has taken the opportunity to “mislead” Malaysians by using “unverified and unproven” allegations about the yacht Equanimity which was seized in Bali by Indonesian authorities.

“The Mahathir-led, DAP-dominated Pakatan Harapan is using fake news as their primary political weapon to garner votes for the coming general election.

“Right thinking Malaysians will recall how Mahathir started the fake news attack on 1MDB, by wrongly stating that 'RM42bil was missing', only to be proven wrong time and time again,” he said.

He also said the Opposition failed to reveal the alleged source of funds in the DoJ lawsuit is from Aabar BVI, which according to the lawsuit, had alleged business dealings with Low.

“The directors of Aabar BVI were Khadem Al Qubaisy and Mohammed Al Badawy, formerly senior employees in the IPIC group.

“1MDB has repeatedly clarified that whilst it did have business dealings with Aabar BVI, 1MDB has not had any business dealings with Jho Low and more importantly, 1MDB is not a party to the DoJ lawsuit,” said Salleh.