- Fiji’s Supreme Court has issued an arrest warrant for the superyacht, linked to Suleiman Kerimov.
- But a US warrant to seize the ship has not yet been registered, a Fiji government spokesman said.
- Kerimov has been sanctioned by the United States, Britain and the EU. The EU said he was close to Putin.
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The $ 325 million superyacht, linked to sanctioned Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov, will not be able to leave Fiji after the country’s Supreme Court issued a restraining order against the ship.
The United States is seeking to take over Amadea, which arrived in the Pacific on April 13 after an 18-day trip from Mexico. The director of the Fiji Public Prosecutor’s Office (DPP), Christopher Pride, appealed to the Supreme Court on Tuesday, “asking for an order (s) to detain the Amadea motor yacht to leave Fiji until the application for registration of the seizure order is finalized. property and (ii) to register a U.S. order to seize Amadea. “
A Pryde spokesman told Insider on Wednesday: “DPP received permission from the Fiji Attorney General after Fiji received a formal request for mutual legal assistance from the US government.”
A spokesman said the Supreme Court in Suva, Fiji’s capital, issued an order restricting Amadea on Tuesday. They said “the issue of the registration of the US order will have to be resolved at a later date” with the next court hearing on the issue, scheduled for Thursday. Amadea’s legal property “is still under investigation”, the spokesman added.
Western countries have imposed broad sanctions on Russia after President Vladimir Putin deployed troops to Ukraine. In addition to targeting Russian business, finance and industry, the West is sanctioning Russia’s elite to put pressure on the country to stop the invasion.
Kerimov, a member of the Federation Council of Russia, was sanctioned by the EU and the United Kingdom on March 15th. The EU said Kerimov was “a member of an inner circle of oligarchs close to Putin” and that he attended a meeting of oligarchs with Putin in the Kremlin in late February to discuss the impact of Western sanctions.
Kerimov has already been sanctioned by the United States in 2018, who said he was accused of both money laundering in France and failing to pay 400m euros ($ 432m) in taxes on villas.
Kerimov is worth about $ 14.3 billion, according to estimates by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He owns Nafta Moscow, a financial and industrial group in Russia, and his family owns a controlling stake in Polyus Gold, which claims to be Russia’s largest gold producer.
France, Italy and Spain are among the nations seizing assets belonging to sanctioned oligarchs, including their private jets, superyachts and property. The first yacht detained under recent US sanctions was the $ 90 million superyacht Tango – believed to belong to sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg – which was detained by authorities on the Spanish island of Mallorca on April 4 at the request of the US Department of State. justice.
Some Russian elites are moving their yachts, private jets and stakes – apparently to avoid sanctions. Kerimov’s ship, Amadea, docked at Lautoka, Fiji’s second-largest city, on April 13th after sailing from Mexico’s Pacific coast, according to Marine Traffic. Fiji has not imposed sanctions on Russia.
An official at the National Police Command and Control Center told Reuters earlier that the captain of the yacht had been questioned by police, who said the ship had arrived in Fiji without customs clearance.
Kerimov’s son, Said Kerimov, owns the ICE superyacht, which is estimated to cost about $ 170 million.
Insider requested comment from the US Treasury Department and the Justice Department, as well as the US Embassy in Fiji.
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