Luxury ship is in front of Fiji
US wants to confiscate oligarch yacht
4/19/2022 3:56 p.m
A luxury yacht has been anchored at the gates of the island state of Fiji for a week. Now the USA wants to confiscate the motor ship, which is said to belong to a Russian tycoon. This is intended to further increase the pressure on Putin’s oligarchs.
The United States wants to seize a superyacht at anchor in the Pacific island nation of Fiji, said to belong to a Russian oligarch. This emerges from an application for an injunction filed by the Fiji prosecutor’s office. This is the luxury ship Amadea, which is attributed to the Russian tycoon Suleiman Kerimov. This has been sanctioned by both the US and the European Union in connection with the Russian war against Ukraine. The ship arrived in Fiji a week ago, having left Mexico and crossed the Pacific Ocean 18 days earlier. The police are investigating.
The Director of Public Prosecutions, Christopher Pryde, petitioned the Supreme Court to prevent the Amadea from leaving Fiji. The motion requires that “motor yacht Amadea be prohibited from sailing out of Fijian waters pending the completion of an application for registration of property seizure.” The court has not yet ruled on the application. Kerimov was previously sanctioned by the US in 2014 and 2018 over Russia’s actions in Syria and Ukraine.
ownership is examined
The US Embassy declined to comment in detail and referred the matter to the Justice Department in Washington. “We continue to increase pressure on (President Vladimir) Putin’s oligarchs and work with allies and partners to pursue the corrupt profits of some of those close to Putin – regardless of where in the world they are located,” the embassy said.
A superyacht broker in Fiji who works for the Amadea told Reuters last week that the ship’s lawyers deny Kerimov is the owner. Records viewed by Reuters show that the yacht is registered to a Cayman Islands company. “The legal ownership of the ship is still under investigation,” said a spokeswoman for the Fiji Attorney General’s office.