Fiji seizes $300m superyacht from Russian oligarch at US request

Fiji authorities have seized a $300 million yacht believed to belong to Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov, at the request of the Fiji Department of Justice. USA.

The agency requested the retention of the vessel for violating the sanctions linked to the war in Ukraine and for his alleged ties to corruption, the department reported Thursday.

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The “Amadea”, a five-year-old, 106-meter vessel, was moored in Lautoka (fiji), in the South Pacific, when local authorities took control of it under a US court order and a request from the Department of Justice.

“The Amadea is subject to confiscation based on probable cause for violations of U.S. law, including the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, money laundering, and conspiracy,” the department said in a statement.

A photo taken on January 16, 2012 shows Russia’s powerful oil and metals tycoon, billionaire Suleiman Kerimov, watching a football match. (AFP PHOTO / NEWS TEAM/ SERGEI RASULOV JR.).

Kerimov he is a member of a group of Russian oligarchs “who profit from the Russian government through corruption and malign activity around the world, including the occupation of Crimea,” the department said.

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USA has imposed sanctions on Russian oligarchs close to the president Vladimir Putin as part of a series of economic punishments for the invasion of Ukraine.

Kerimov, who has made a fortune co-owning major Russian financial and energy companies including Gazprom and Sberbank, is also a Russian government official and a member of the Russian Federation Council, he said.

“There is no hiding place for the assets of the criminals who enable the Russian regime”, US Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.

“The Justice Department will be relentless in our efforts to hold accountable those who facilitate the death and destruction we are witnessing in Ukraine,” Garland said.

Source: Elcomercio