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The United States Attorney Duane A. Evans has announced that Fei Wang, aged 38, on Jan 24, 2025, has pleaded guilty to violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS) and for obstructing proceedings, and was sentenced during the same proceeding to three months in prison, three years of supervised release, and payment of a US$200 mandatory special assessment fee. Wang, a Chinese national, was the chief engineer of the 'ASL Singapore', now sailing as 'Xin Hai Tong 805', which was engaged in trade in the USA. The 'ASL Singapore' has arrived in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Feb 26, 2024. The US Coast Guard conducted an inspection, which included review of the vessel’s oil record books. In his plea, Wang acknowledged presenting these books to the Coast Guard knowing they contained fraudulent entries and omitted information about discharging oily bilge water directly overboard before arriving in the USA. The falsified logs were intended to conceal the fact that since at least Oct 2023, when Wang boarded the vessel, the crew had dumped oily bilge water overboard directly from the bilge holding tank and was not complying with international treaties regulating oil pollution from ships. According to court documents and statements, the crew of the 'ASL Singapore' used a portable pump and flexible hose to dispose of oily bilge water in violation of MARPOL Convention,, and without the use of the appropriate pollution prevention equipment and monitoring. This was done prior to Wang boarding the vessel and continued while he was chief engineer, in charge of all engine room operations. The vessel's oily water separator was never properly used during Wang's time as chief engineer. The Coast Guard Investigative Service and the EPA Criminal Investigations Division investigated the case with assistance from US Coast Guard Sector New Orleans. Assistant US Attorneys Christine M. Calogero of the General Crimes Unit, and G. Dall Kammer, Chief of the General Crimes Unit, are prosecuting the case.

The Italian Coast Guard has ordered the detention of two ships in the port of Genova, among the ten inspected since the beginning of the year, as part of the environmental and safety control activities conducted by the Port State Control personnel on foreign vessels transiting Italian ports. The detention orders were issued against the 'Commander' and 'Salammbo', which had serious shortcomings in terms of navigation safety and environmental protection. The 'Commander', which had arrived in port on Jan 21, 2025, was selected thanks to the targeting system developed by the General Command of the Coast Guard. The system, in line with the objectives of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, analyses a series of data relating to ships, considering elements such as the company's performance, the flag and the results of previous inspections (https://www.parismou.org/detentions-banning/white-grey-and-black-list). The analysis of the data, in particular the low performance of the company and the shortcomings already reported in a previous inspection, allowed the ship to be identified as a priority for control. After three days of detention, the ship was authorised to leave again following a re-inspection which verified that the technical, operational and documentary shortcomings had been resolved, in collaboration with the flag State and the monitoring Classification Society, and left the port on Jan 24 en route to Samsun with an ETA as of Feb 3. The 'Salammbo', which had arrived in Genova on Jan 19, was inspected for its high risk profile. Serious deficiencies were also found on this ship, which remained moored at the Genova Port Terminal, including problems with the collective lifesaving equipment and the waste water treatment plant, in violation of current environmental regulations. At the moment, the ship remains detained, awaiting resolution of the reported critical issues.

The Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich is said to have evaded millions in taxes in Germany and other EU countries, according to leaked documents that are available to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and have now been analyzed by the "Standard" together with media such as "Spiegel", ZDF, "Guardian" and BBC. The focus is on the "Eclipse" owned by Abramovich and allegedly part of a complex tax avoidance model. The ship is said to have been officially handled through various letterbox companies. Offshore companies were used to conceal the real owner and avoid paying taxes. Abramovich's advisors designed a network of companies that was supposed to simulate the commercial use of Abramovich's yacht fleet. The "Eclipse" was probably part of the structure until at least 2012. According to this, the yacht was officially rented to a company in the British Virgin Islands in order to avoid VAT obligations - although Abramovich demonstrably used the "Eclipse" privately, for example for an exclusive New Year's Eve party in the Caribbean in 2012. There is also said to have been a trick when refueling the yacht. Commercially used ships are exempt from fuel tax in the EU. Internal emails show that those responsible were trying to obtain the necessary evidence. When a rental agreement was not submitted on time, an employee warned that this would jeopardize a tax saving of 44,000 US dollars for filling up the tank once. A particularly lucrative tax loophole arose during the construction of the "Eclipse" in Hamburg. Since the ship was built in what was then the free port, the location was not considered to be German territory for tax purposes. Therefore, no VAT was apparently due on the purchase. The costs are estimated at around 300 to 800 million euros. For a long time, Abramovich and his advisors managed to fend off official inquiries. In Italy, tax proceedings threatened in 2014 after the yacht had been refueled in Trieste, but the investigation was discontinued. There were also disagreements in Cyprus: in 2012, the authorities there demanded around 14 million euros in taxes on chartering. Abramovich's lawyer later withdrew his appeals, but it remains unclear whether the sum was paid. Since the imposition of Western sanctions against Russian oligarchs, Abramovich has avoided the EU in order to protect his assets from being accessed. The "Eclipse" is now off the Turkish coast, beyond the reach of European authorities. In Germany, the alleged tax offenses may now be time-barred. The statute of limitations in Germany is usually only five years, but in particularly serious cases it can be 15 years.

The Italian Coast Guard has ordered the detention of two ships in the port of Genova, among the ten inspected since the beginning of the year, as part of the environmental and safety control activities conducted by the Port State Control personnel on foreign vessels transiting Italian ports. The detention orders were issued against the 'Commander' and 'Salammbo', which had serious shortcomings in terms of navigation safety and environmental protection. The 'Commander', which had arrived in port on Jan 21, 2025, was selected thanks to the targeting system developed by the General Command of the Coast Guard. The system, in line with the objectives of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, analyses a series of data relating to ships, considering elements such as the company's performance, the flag and the results of previous inspections (https://www.parismou.org/detentions-banning/white-grey-and-black-list). The analysis of the data, in particular the low performance of the company and the shortcomings already reported in a previous inspection, allowed the ship to be identified as a priority for control. After three days of detention, the ship was authorised to leave again following a re-inspection which verified that the technical, operational and documentary shortcomings had been resolved, in collaboration with the flag State and the monitoring Classification Society, and left the port on Jan 24 en route to Samsun with an ETA as of Feb 3. The 'Salammbo' was inspected for its high risk profile. Serious deficiencies were also found on this ship, which remained moored at the Genova Port Terminal, including problems with the collective lifesaving equipment and the waste water treatment plant, in violation of current environmental regulations. At the moment, the ship remains detained, awaiting resolution of the reported critical issues.

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