The months-long detainment of the megayacht Phocea may finally be ending. According to Radio New Zealand, Vanuatu’s minister of public utilities signed the official deed of release on December 4, after nearly US$11,000 was paid.
Interesting enough, AIS information shows that Phocea still remains in Vanuatu as of this writing. And, Radio New Zealand reports that Vanuatu’s director of ports and marine says he was never consulted over the release and that the minister of public utilities was not authorized to do so.
The controvery dates back to July, when Phocea was suspected of being at the center of alleged crimes. Phocea was boarded in Vanuatu on July 22 by customs, immigration, and quarantine officers while in Port Vila Harbour. Police suspected the 246’6” (75.15-meter) megayacht of being involved in gun smuggling, money laundering, and breaching maritime borders. Three people and Phocea’s captain were arrested and taken off the yacht. The Vanuatu Police Media Unit issued a statement explaining that the officials who boarded Phocea found forged signatures on official documents. When official charges were finally brought up, they included arms trafficking, forgery, issuing forged documents, and other immigration violations.
In August, 13 crewmembers of Phocea pleaded guilty to breaching the customs and immigration laws of Vanuatu. They paid fines equivalent to nearly US$1,100, for disembarking Phocea before immigration clearance was granted. The captain faced further charges, two of which were dropped in November. They pertained to signing a false declaration given to customs and immigration. The captain ultimately plead guilty to illegally dropping anchor at Paradise Cove, an unauthorized port of entry. He also was found guilty of failing to report the yacht’s arrival to customs.
The case isn’t entirely over. Two Vanuatu caretaker cabinet ministers were charged in October with illegally boarding the yacht and are expected to go on trial in April. Both have pleaded not guilty.
Radio New Zealand cited unnamed sources in November claiming the Vanuatu government had already spent more than US$200,000 investigating the circumstances surrounding Phocea.
UPDATE, JANUARY 21, 2013: More than a month after Phocea was officially released, the megayacht remains in Vanuatu, over conflicting information as to where she is registered. According to the Vanuatu Daily Post, local authorities have discovered she is registered in more than one country, specifically Vanuatu, France, Luxembourg, and Malta. Brokerage websites have listed her port of registry as Luxembourg, as have websites that rely on publicly available AIS data. Meanwhile, Radio New Zealand contacted the Malta Shipping Registry for information, and was told that the provisional registration provided to Phocea last year was obtained without proof of ownership and other required documentation. It was therefore cancelled last week. The newspaper adds that because officials cannot determine which paperwork is correct, they cannot permit Phocea to leave.
UPDATE, FEBRUARY 26, 2013: Phocea is finally being permitted to depart Vanuatu. Robert Bohn, a member of Vanuatu’s parliament and the chief executive of Vanuatu Maritime Services Limited, which oversees vessel registry for the country, told Radio Australia that the megayacht was given a provisional six-month registration. Bohn explains that it is provisional because it allows Phocea a one-way passage to Thailand for repairs, to bring her back to customary good condition. The yacht has been sitting in Vanuatu now for seven months. Bohn adds that while there has been a general understanding that the owner wanted to register the yacht permanently in Vanuatu, it is not a certainty. “With all the continued problems and the silliness that has surrounded the vessel here in Vanuatu, there’s a chance that the owners will look at another registry, I’m not really sure,” he says. “We’ll just have to see what happens with Phocea.”
Mouna Ayoub
I was for the former owner of Phocea who rescued her after Tapie lost her following his problems with the Credit Lyonnais in Paris. She represented everything to me after my divorce and I took her in as my 6th child. I treated as such, I dressed her and fed her and made her one of the most respected megayacht in the world. She never encountered any problem during my ownership. I believe that her detention should have triggered the authority to put her up for an auction like the one that followed the one of the Tapie case. This would have given me the chance to buy her again as I poured my heart my soul and a great deal of my fortune in her. I am truly sorry and sad that the Vanuatu authorities held for so long and never gave anyone the chance to buy her again. Mouna Ayoub