How can a large passenger aircraft's owner remain unknown? I'm reading through TheStar's "Malaysia Airports seeks owner of three Boeing 747s abandoned at KLIA" article and I can't stop wondering, why I don't understand it or how should I understand it?

How it is possible in 21th century, that knowing large passenger aircraft's (a) type, (b) current location and (c) registration it is still impossible to find actual aircraft's owner in a matter of minutes?

Don't we have aircraft's databases, to obtain this information? Or to use it to track any passenger aircraft latest flights? Is it possible, that Kuala Lumpur International Airport does not have any records or tracks of what (owned by whom) and when landed on their grounds?

I know that this isn't possible, but for a newbie like me this article sound like a joke rather than a current reality in aviation industry today.
Every country handles aircraft registration differently (but generally similar). Im sure Boeing could tell you who they originally delivered the airframe to but if it was sold from there it could legally go anywhere and would only be subject to local registration legislation. 

Here in the US you can look up aircraft owners by N number but not all countries may keep a record like that and as far as I know there is no global aircraft registry. 


  it is still impossible to find actual aircraft's owner in a matter of minutes


Knowing who the owner is and finding the owner are two very different things.

According to this article  


  Several aviation databases list the Boeings -- identified by their
  call signs TF-ARN, TF-ARH, TF-ARM -- as belonging to leasing firm Air
  Atlanta Icelandic, but that company says it sold them in 2008.
  
  Since then, the aircraft appear to have changed hands several times.
  
  Malaysia Airports says it's entitled to sell the Boeings under the
  country's civil aviation regulations if no owner comes forward.


So it seems they do know who owned them at some point (most likely the last people to put readable registration numbers on them).