Fiji dismisses plea to stop US seizing Russian superyacht

A photo taken on April 13, 2022 shows the superyacht Amadea, reportedly owned by a Russian oligarch, berthed at the Queens Wharf in Lautoka. (Photo by Leon LORD / FIJI SUN / AFP)

SUVA, Fiji — A Fiji court on Friday dismissed an appeal to stop US authorities from seizing the Russian superyacht Amadea.

The $300 million yacht, linked by the United States to billionaire oligarch and politician Suleiman Kerimov, who is the target of sanctions, was impounded on arrival in Fiji a month ago at Washington’s request.

The yacht’s registered owners, Millemarin Investments, denied Kerimov was the owner and argued that the Fijian law under which the Amadea was detained did not allow for the United States to take it away.

Their Fijian lawyer, Feizel Haniff, claimed the High Court judge who initially approved seizing the 348-foot (106-meter) Amadea was “star struck” by Washington’s request.

In a written decision, the Court of Appeal said it dismissed the appeal by Millemarin Investments, with the judgment set to take effect in seven days.

Haniff told reporters he plans to take the case to Fiji’s Supreme Court, and will apply for a court order to stop US agents sailing the Amadea from Fiji before the appeal is heard.

Prior to FBI agents boarding the Amadea after its arrival at the Fijian port of Lautoka in April, Haniff had already filed appeals arguing that the vessel’s real owner was Eduard Khudainatov, a wealthy Russian who did not face sanctions.

He said the United States had no right to seize the Amadea until the ownership issue was resolved.

The United States had sanctioned Kerimov in 2018 for alleged money laundering, and he has since been further sanctioned by several countries as well as the European Union following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

In a publicly released copy of the original warrant to seize the vessel, the section listing various reasons to believe Kerimov is the yacht’s true, beneficial owner was partly blacked out.

The warrant said ownership was transferred to Millemarin Investment in August 2021.

However, documents presented to the Appeal Court listed Khudainatov as the owner with the Amadea registered in the Cayman Islands and held through the Caymans-based Millemarin Investments.

Khudainatov, the former head of the state-controlled Russian oil and gas company Rosneft, has also been linked to the $700 million superyacht Scheherazade, which has been impounded in Italy and is also the subject of an investigation into its ownership.

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