The Icelandic district prosecutor has been allowed to raid the offices of shipping company Eimskip, in order to search into possible legal irregularities regarding the sale of two scrapped ships to India.
More specifically, the prosecutor has requested documents in relation to the sale of the 1,465 teu pair Goðafoss and Laxfoss in 2019. Regarding these ships, the Environment Agency of Iceland reported to the district prosecutor in 2020, and they were sold to cash buyer GMS and then offloaded to the Malwi Ship Breaking and Gohilwad Ship Breaking yards on India’s west coast.
The investigation relates to whether the country’s Act. No. 55/2003 on the treatment of waste and subsequent regulations have been breached.
As for Eimskip, it believed that it has complied with laws and regulations in the sales process, stating that:
Eimskip takes the matter seriously as the company, its management, and employees place great emphasis on social responsibility in their work and have long paid attention to environmental issues in their operations
As of now it is not possible for the company to estimate possible financial effects, as the Act contains sanctions provisions without stating any specific amounts.
The only amount referenced in the Act relates to the Icelandic Environmental Agency’s authority to apply administrative fines towards legal entities amounting up to ISK 25m ($192,435).
