A Russian-owned superyacht docked in Fiji has left for the United States after a Fiji court ordered its removal, saying it was a waste of money to maintain amid legal wrangling over its seizure.

Fiji’s Supreme Court lifted a stay order which had prevented the US from seizing the superyacht Amadea.

A US Justice Department’s Taskforce has focused on seizing yachts and other luxury assets of Russian oligarchs in a bid to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine.

• READ MORE: Graham Davis: Behind the saga of the ‘seized’ Russian super yacht Amadea
• Other Amadea reports

The 106m Amadea arrived in Fiji on April 13 after an 18-day voyage from Mexico.

It was seized by Fiji authorities after the country’s High Court granted a US warrant last month that linked the yacht to sanctioned Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov.

The FBI has said the US$300 million luxury vessel had running costs of $25 million to $30 million per year, and the United States would pay to maintain the vessel after it was seized.

However, Fiji’s government has been footing the bill while an appeal by the vessel’s registered owner, Millemarin Investments, worked its way through the country’s courts.

Ordered to ‘sail out of Fiji’
The Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that public interest demanded the yacht “sail out of Fiji waters”, because having it berthed in Fiji was “costing the Fijian government dearly,” according to the judgment.

The vessel “sailed into Fiji waters without any permit and most probably to evade prosecution by the United States,” it added.

Anthony Coley, a spokesperson for the US Justice Department, posted on Twitter that the Amadea set sail for the United States on Tuesday “after having been seized as the proceeds of criminal evasion of US sanctions against Russian oligarch Suleyman Kerimov.”

The United States alleged Kerimov beneficially owned the Amadea, although lawyers for the vessel had denied this and told the court it was owned by another Russian oligarch, Eduard Khudainatov, the former chief of Russian energy giant Rosneft, who had not been sanctioned.

Last month, another luxury yacht reportedly owned by Khudainatov worth some $700 million was impounded by police in Italy.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Today, with authorization from the Fijian High Court and under a new flag, the Amadea set sail for the United States after having been seized as the proceeds of criminal evasion of US sanctions against Russian oligarch Suleyman Kerimov. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/JHiYUDKcmQ

— Anthony Coley (@AnthonyColeyDOJ) June 7, 2022

Fiji’s Court of Appeal has ruled that the Russian luxury yacht Amadea, seized by the US government but docked in western Fiji, will stay in the country for at least another month.

Defence lawyers acting for the vessel’s registered owners, Millemarin Investment Limited, sought a stay order in the Fiji Court of Appeal after High Court judge Justice Deepthi Amaratunga refused their application.

Haniff and Tuitoga had sought a stay order on his Tuesday ruling to grant Fijian authorities the power to enforce a US Justice Department (DOJ) warrant to seize the Amadea.

• READ MORE: Graham Davis: Behind the saga of the ‘seized’ Russian super yacht Amadea
• Other Amadea super yacht reports

The Amadea, which arrived in Fiji on April 12 after an 18-day crossing from Mexico, is according to the US government owned by Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov.

Kerimov faces money laundering charges in the US and is also part of a wider network of oligarchs, close associates of the Russian President Vladimir Putin who are sanctioned by the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union.

“The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control designated Kerimov as part of a group of Russian oligarchs who profit from the Russian government through corruption and its malign activity around the globe, including the occupation of Crimea,” the Department of Justice said in a statement issued Thursday morning in Washington DC.

“According to court documents, Kerimov owned the Amadea after his designation. Additionally, Kerimov and those acting on his behalf and for his benefit caused US dollar transactions to be routed through US financial institutions for the support and maintenance of the Amadea.”

US police boarded boat
On Thursday, Fijian police with US law enforcement who have been in the country since the Amadea arrived in Fiji from Mexico, boarded the yacht.

Justice Amaratunga told the court on Friday afternoon the Fiji Mutual Assistance Act, which facilitated the enforcement of US seizure action, limited his ability to stay his earlier order.

Haniff and Tuitoga lawyers received their stay on Friday evening, keeping the Amadea in Lautoka while they take the 30 days allowed to appeal the ruling to execute US seizure orders.

Meanwhile, the boat has a team of US marshals, the US Coast Guard, the Federal Bureau of Investigations, and Fiji police.

The skipper and some crew are believed to still be on the vessel.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

The United States government can now remove the US$325 million luxury yacht Amadea, owned by Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov, currently docked in Fiji.

A Fiji High Court judge refused an application to stay his earlier ruling to allow the enforcement of a US Justice Department warrant to seize the luxury vessel which has been docked in the western port of Lautoka for almost a month.

Justice Deepthi Amaratunga told the court the Mutual Assistance Act which facilitated the enforcement of US seizure action limited his ability to stay the earlier order.

• LATEST: Fiji’s Court of Appeal restrains Amadea from leaving
• READ MORE: US govt seizes oligarch’s superyacht anchored in Fiji
• Fiji seizes Russian oligarch’s $300m yacht at US request
• Other Amadea super yacht reports

US officials based at the embassy in Fiji were expected to make an announcement with the Fiji police force later today explaining action taken overnight on Thursday and plans to sail the Amadea out of Fiji.

Fiji police boarded and seized the vessel yesterday and handed the property to US marshals and representatives from the Coast Guard, FBI and maritime authorities.

The Department of Justice announced today the vessel had been placed in the possession of the US Marshals’ Service.

Suleiman Kerimov, a close ally of Vladimir Putin, is not believed to be on board the vessel.

RNZ Pacific correspondent Lice Movono reported from Suva earlier today that Fijian police with US law enforcement, who had been in the country since the Amadea arrived in Fiji from Mexico, boarded the yacht yesterday.

“The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control designated Kerimov as part of a group of Russian oligarchs who profit from the Russian government through corruption and its malign activity around the globe, including the occupation of Crimea,” a US Department of Justice statement said.

“According to court documents, Kerimov owned the Amadea after his designation. Additionally, Kerimov and those acting on his behalf and for his benefit caused US dollar transactions to be routed through US financial institutions for the support and maintenance of the Amadea.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

If you’re as confused as most people by the exact circumstances surrounding the continuing presence in Fiji of the Russian super yacht Amadea, join the club. Here’s our modest attempt to cut through the fog.

Twelve days ago — on April 14 — the CJ Patel Fiji Sun newspaper trumpeted an exclusive with Police Commissioner Sitiveni Qilihio, reporting that the Amadea had been seized. It had not. In fact, it still hasn’t been formally seized.

What happened last week is that the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) obtained a restraining order from the High Court to prevent the Amadea from leaving Fiji. Until that order was granted, there was every possibility in the intervening period of the vessel leaving.

• READ MORE: Other Amadea reports on Asia Pacific Report

In fact, lawyers for the owners were arguing that there was no legal justification to detain the Amadea any longer after they had reportedly paid an amount in fines for customs infringements.

It was only when the High Court granted the restraining order that leaving was no longer a legal option.

Indeed, all along there has been a suspicion that the vessel might try to make a run for it. It has a significant armoury and the security forces would have already factored in their ability to prevent a determined attempt to leave.

This application was lodged by the Office of the DPP on a warrant issued by the United States government. The papers are from Washington DC and passed through the Attorney-General’s Office before carriage of the matter was given to the DPP under the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act.

A second case
Now there is a second case that has been brought before the High Court for the Amadea to be seized. Yes, taken from the owners altogether in line with the American-led sanctions that have been imposed on the nautical playthings and other toys of Russian oligarchs and Vladimir Putin’s cronies the world over.

The High Court will hand down its judgment next Tuesday (May 3), which is expected to be in Washington’s favour.

And sometime after that, the Amadea will presumably become the property of the US government and sail off into the sunset under the command of Uncle Sam in the direction of the US.

It has been an astonishing saga. The original, mostly European crew, had orders to sail from the Mexican port of Mazanillo across the entire Pacific to the Russian port of Vladivosok via Lautoka, where the Amadea has been refuelled and resupplied.

Their services have evidently been terminated and an entirely Russian crew has been on standby to take over when it finally gets permission to sail. Alas for them, their journey to Fiji will have been in vain.

Incredibly, there is still doubt about the vessel’s true ownership. The whole world has been told that it belongs to the Russian oligarch, Suleiman Kerimov, but there is still evidently no conclusive proof — the vessel’s ownership evidently buried in a labyrinth of multiple shelf companies in places like the British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands.

For the purposes of the High Court case in Suva, the owner is officially stated as being Millemarin Investment Limited. Is it Suleiman Kerimov?

No evidence about Kerimov
Millemarin Investment’s local lawyer, Feizal Hannif, told the court there was no evidence that it is. He said the vessel’s beneficial owner was in fact one Eduard Khudaynatov. But counsel for the DPP, Jayneeta Prasad, argued that the ownership of the vessel was not an issue. It was subject to a US warrant and the ownership issue was for the American courts to decide.

So fortunately unravelling all of this is not Fiji’s problem. But what was Police Commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho doing 12 days ago telling the Fiji Sun that the Amadea had been seized when we won’t know that for certain until next Tuesday, nearly three weeks after the Sun “scoop”?

And is there going to be any attempt to set the official record straight?

Australian-Fijian journalist Graham Davis publishes the blog Grubsheet Feejee on Fiji affairs. Republished with permission.

The High Court in Suva has allowed an application by the public prosecutor to stop the super yacht Amadea belonging to Russian billionaire Suleiman Kerimov from leaving its waters.

Kerimov, who was not on board, is facing sanctions from the United States, Britain and the European Union over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Fiji’s Director of Public Prosecutions Christopher Pryde filed the application on Tuesday — a week after the yacht moored at the Lautoka Wharf without customs clearance.

• READ MORE: Other Amadea reports

Pryde confirmed that the US was seeking to seize the vessel.

In his application, he requested that: “Amadea be restrained from leaving Fijian waters until the finalisation of an application to register a warrant to seize the property and that a US warrant to seize the Amadea be registered.”

The court is yet to hear the application.

FBC News reports says a second application for the US to seize the yacht will be heard today.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

The Fiji Revenue and Customs Service has issued two infringement notices to the captain of the seized Russian super yacht Amadea which is berthed in Lautoka port.

These are notices under Section 14 of the Customs Act of 1986 for failure to comply with procedure on arrival and Section 17 which deals with failure to comply with people disembarking.

Section 14 deals with infringements under “procedure on arrival” where the master of every aircraft or ship arriving in the Fiji Islands shall bring the ship or aircraft to an airport or port or mooring without touching at any other place.

• READ MORE: Russian billionaires head for Turkey to flee Western sanctions
• Earlier reports on the Amadea
• US seizes Russian super yacht docked in Spain
• France seizes Russian oligarch’s yacht amid EU sanctions

A fine not exceeding F$20,000 (NZ$14,000) or imprisonment for four years applies for the infringement.

Section 17 deals with “provisions as to persons disembarking from or going onboard an aircraft, ship” and states a person who contravenes or fails to comply with any direction given by the Customs comptroller under the provisions of this section is guilty of an offence and is liable to a fine not exceeding F$10,000 (NZ$7000).

“These charges are as per the Customs Act 1986,” said Police Commissioner Brigadier-General Sitiveni Qiliho.

“Normally the Act, (FRCS) Fiji Revenue and Customs Service acts on a fine matrix. If he pays the fines, then good otherwise, we will need to go to the court.”

US officials join investigation
Repeka Nasiko reports that American government officials are working with the Fiji Police Force in investigations over the Amadea.

Police Commissioner Brigadier-General Sitiveni Qiliho said the US investigators had already boarded the super yacht.

Commissioner Qiliho said investigations were progressing well.

“We are working very closely with the US government in regard to the current seizure of the yacht at the moment while we go through that investigation process,” he said.

He said the next course of action would not take place overnight and “probably take the next couple of days”.

The crew, he said, were on board and the person of interest was the captain of the vessel.

“The crew are of other nationalities.

“Their embassies and high commissions have been in touch with the investigation team and we are working through the US government with those embassies regarding the crew members who continue to be on board the vessel.”

He added that all relevant defence and border agencies were involved in the investigations.

“We have the RFMF through the Fiji Navy, Customs, Fiji Police and our international counterparts that monitor the movement of vessels.”

Amadea is reportedly owned by Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov, who is currently sanctioned by foreign governments, including the US, over the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Anish Chand is the Fiji Times West Bureau chief reporter; Repeka Nasiko is a Fiji Times reporter. Republished with permission.

The seizure of a super yacht — reportedly owned by a sanctioned Russian oligarch — by the US government in Spain recently could point to a similar scenario playing out in Fiji in relation to the Amadea which is berthed at Lautoka port.

The US Embassy in Suva did not answer Fiji Times queries yesterday on whether it had made an application to Fiji for the seizure of Amadea.

Fiji police are investigating the ship and the circumstances of its arrival in Fiji.

• READ MORE: Russian billionaires head for Turkey to flee Western sanctions
• Earlier reports on the Amadea
• US seizes Russian super yacht docked in Spain
• France seizes Russian oligarch’s yacht amid EU sanctions

Last week, Spain acted on a request from the US Department of Justice to seize a $180 million yacht, Tango, owned by sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg.

“Together, with our international partners, we will do everything possible to hold accountable any individual whose criminal acts enable the Russian government to continue its unjust war,” said Attorney-General Merrick Garland after the seizure of Tango.

Al Jazeera reports that a yacht linked to a Russian aluminium tycoon arrived in a bay near the southwestern Turkish resort of Gocek yesterday, as more Russian billionaires head for Turkey to flee Western sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Oleg Deripaska, founder of Russian aluminium giant Rusal, has been sanctioned by the US, United Kingdom and European Union.

Super yacht arrives
A witness saw the 73-metre yacht Clio arrive off the coast of Gocek in the Aegean coastal province of Mugla.

The Cayman Islands-flagged vessel remains in the bay off Gocek.

The arrival of the Clio in Turkish waters came after two super yachts linked to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, who made a surprise appearance at Ukraine-Russia peace talks in Istanbul this month, docked in Turkish ports.

Anish Chand is the Fiji Times West Bureau chief reporter. Republished with permission.

Fiji is making a mockery of its stand in the United Nations in condemning Russia’s war against Ukraine by allowing the Russian super yacht Amadea to berth in the western port of Lautoka, says opposition People’s Alliance party leader Sitiveni Rabuka.

He called on government to send it on its way immediately.

He made the comment as police are investigating why the Amadea had entered and stopped inside Fiji’s territorial waters before a clearance from Customs was issued.

• READ MORE: Fiji investigates arrival of Russian oligarch’s vessel, questions captain
• ‘We don’t do Russians’, says Fiji health minister
• Other Ukraine war reports

Police Commissioner Brigadier General Sitiveni Qiliho said the super yacht was being investigated for alleged breach of Fiji’s Exclusive Economic Zone.

The super yacht belonging to a Russian billionaire sanctioned by the USA, United Kingdom and Europe came into port at Lautoka on Tuesday.

Public sources say the Amadea is owned by Suleiman Kerimov, a Russian oligarch who is currently sanctioned over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Marine Traffic, a marine analytics service, started showing Amadea in Fiji waters from daytime on Tuesday and by 6pm it was headed to the Lautoka Wharf.

Left Mexico last month
The Amadea left Manzanillo port in Mexico on March 24.

The 106-metre yacht risks being seized by the US, UK or any European Union country after they placed sanctions on Kerimov’s assets.

According to Fiji port requirements, any yacht arriving into Fiji must obtain approval from the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Trade and Transport and the Immigration Department.

“We have heard about it [Amadea] but nothing has come to Immigration,” said Immigration Secretary Yogesh Karan.

Questions sent to the Ministry of Health had not been answered on publication by The Fiji Times.

Anish Chand is the Fiji Times West Bureau chief reporter. Republished with permission.