Tag: court

Sentenced to 30 Months in Prison The U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey issued the following news release:Two former crew members of the fishing boat Alexander II who admitted to participating in a plot to sink the boat off the coast of Cape May in August 2009 in exchange for payment were sentenced to prison today, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.Erik James, 40, of Goshen, N.J., who previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Renee Marie Bumb to a superseding Information charging him with conspiracy to destroy the Alexander II on the high seas, was sentenced to 30 months in prison.Christopher Martin, 40, of Wildwood, N.J., who previously pleaded guilty before Judge Bumb to a superseding Information charging him with the conspiracy, was sentenced to 30 months in prison. Judge Bumb imposed both sentences today in Camden federal court.According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:The defendants engaged in a scheme to sink the Alexander II so that boat's owner, Scott Tran, 38, of Cherry Hill, N.J., could collect $400,000 on an insurance policy with State National Insurance Co. In July 2009, Tran hired a captain for the ship, whom Tran and his ...

More than $5.3 million for fixing prices in the Port of Genoa Italy's antitrust authority fined 15 liner shipping agents and two trade associations a total of more than $5.3 million for fixing prices in the Port of Genoa.The shipping agents participated in a secret cartel that set prices for services, including issuing bills of lading for exports and delivery orders for imports, from February 2004 through December 2009, the authority, AGCM, said.Maersk Italia, Maersk Line's Italian unit, participated in the price fixing, but was not fined because it provided the initial information that enabled the authority to expose the cartel. Hapag-Lloyd Italy's fine was halved to $322,000 because it provided additional information about the cartel's activities.The cartel exerted "a significant impact on the market for maritime transport," according to AGCM. While most of its members were based in Genoa, their fixed prices acted as a reference for transactions in other Italian ports, including Gioia Tauro, the container transshipment hub, and La Spezia.French carrier CMA CGM attracted the biggest fine of $1.18 million followed by China's Coscon at $965,000 and "K" Line of Japan, $575,000. Other cartel members included APL, Yang Ming and Zim Integrated Shipping Services, and the two ...

Allowing the Italian ship, M.T. Enrica Lexie to sail out of the Indian waters A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Tuesday set aside a single judge's order allowing the Italian ship, M.T. Enrica Lexie, detained off Kochi following the killing of two fishermen by two Italian navy marines on board the ship, to sail out of the Indian waters and continue its voyage.A Bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice V. Chitambaresh passed the verdict while allowing an appeal filed by a legal heir of one of the killed fishermen against the order. The single judge had directed the police to permit the ship to continue its voyage on furnishing a bond for Rs. 3 crore and an undertaking before the Deputy Conservator, Cochin Port Trust that the vessel, master, and the crew would be produced as and when required by the authorities concerned.The court held that in view of the seizure report filed under 102(3) of the Criminal Procedure Code by the police before the magistrate court concerned, the proper course for the ship agent would have been to proceed under Section 457 seeking to release the vessel from the custody of the police. ...

Says Rear Admiral Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari, the commander of the Iranian navy says the 13 Somali pirates who were captured in the Indian Ocean will be put on trial at Iranian courts, IRNA reported Tuesday.Sayyari added the pirates were detained after 48 hours exchanging fire with an Iranian patrolling ship and finally hand to hand fighting on the deck of the cargo ship Armis.The ship which was carrying tens of tons cargo from the "South African route" to Iran was attacked by the pirates 2000 km off the Somali coast on March 26.Iranian patrolling ships in the region could rescue Armis four days later; the Rea(r) Admiral was quoted as saying.The pirates have killed two Iranian nationals of the Armis crew members and injuring one who had tried to defend the ship, Sayyari stated, "but no lost among the Iranian marines."Source: Neptune Maritime Security

Enrica Lexie case updates A court here on Monday extended by 14 days the judicial remand of two marines of Italian ship 'Enrica Lexie', charged with gunning down two Indian fishermen off the Kerala coast in February.The marines, Latore Massimiliano and Salvatore Girone, have been in remand since February 19 when they were arrested and charged with murder of the two fishermen who had put to sea from Kollam.The marines were brought from Central Prison in the state capital and produced before Chief Judicial Magistrate A.K. Gopakumar on expiry of the deadline of their judicial custody.The accused are lodged in a special cell in the central prison. The state government has resisted diplomatic pressure from Italy to have them lodged in a guest house outside the prison and the case tried outside India under international maritime laws.A special team led by Kochi City Police Commissioner M.R. Ajith Kumar is investigating the case. It has seized the firearms allegedly used by the marines from the ship and sent them to the Government Forensic Laboratory for ballistic examination and analysis.Source: Deccan Chronicle

Kerala high court orders release of Italian ship The Kerala high court yesterday ordered release of Italian ship Enrica Lexie, detained off Kochi port for over a month in connection with the gunning down of two Indian fishermen allegedly by marines aboard the vessel.Allowing the plea of ship owners Dolphin Tankers, Justice P S Gopinathan directed the state government and police to release the ship, subject to the owners executing a Rs 3 crore bond before the deputy conservator of Cochin Port Trust.The court also directed the shipping company to give an undertaking that the vessel, its master and crew would appear as and when called upon by competent authorities with three weeks' prior notice.On the argument of Advocate General K P Dandapani that other marines (on board the ship) could also be required as part of the investigation, the court said release of the vessel should not interfere with the probe.The owners argued they could not take responsibility of the marines as they were not part of the ship's crew and they were deputed by the Italian navy for security. The two fishermen, Valentine Jalstine and Ajesh Pinki, were killed when the marines allegedly fired at their fishing boat ...

MV Flinterspirt went too close to the east side of North Uist A captain is facing criminal charges after a cargo ship MV Flinterspirit ran aground on rocks in the Western Isles.The MV Flinterspirt went too close to the east side of North Uist while heading south down the Minch on March 19.The 4500-tonne Dutch bulk carrier was on its way to Belfast from Sweden with a cargo of wood when it hit rocks on Flodday Mor on the very south east tip of North Uist around 10.45pm.Captain Konstantin Golubev is accused of failing to maintain a proper lookout and prevent the grounding while he was the master responsible for the vessel.The Russian is also accused of failing to alter course as required to prevent the ship suffering serious damage.In a separate incident, the 40-year-old skipper is also accused of being drunk in charge of the ship at Stornoway harbour three days after it grounded.It is alleged that he recorded an alcohol reading of 121mcg, more than three times higher than the legal limit of 35mcg.Golubev appeared at Stornoway Sheriff Court on Tuesday and was released on bail.None of the ten crew were injured when the vessel grounded last week.The ...

Vinashin executives are accused of losing more than $43 million Former top executives at a Vietnamese shipbuilder whose huge debts shook investor confidence in the communist nation went on trial on Tuesday for defying state regulations.State-owned Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Group, better known as Vinashin, almost went bankrupt with debts totalling more than $4 billion in a scandal that sent ripples through Vietnamese politics.The scandal sparked investor fears of wider problems at state-owned firms, a key pillar of Vietnam's economy.Following a police probe, the group's 58-year-old former chairman, Pham Thanh Binh, and eight other executives were indicted in November.The defendants "intentionally violated state regulations on economic management", the president of the court Tran Van Nghiem said on the opening day of the trial, which is expected to conclude on Friday.If convicted the former executives face up to 20 years in prison each.All nine were taken to a court in the northern port city of Haiphong at dawn under tight police security, according to an AFP reporter at the scene. After about one hour, the court allowed their shackles to be removed.The scandal piled pressure on Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, who appointed Binh and was considered close to the disgraced executive.At ...

EU and other countries laws are in a state of flux The EU implementing Regulation following the EU Council Decision of 23 January 2012 is still awaited. It is likely to have wide ranging effect and will address the imposition of a ban on the import, purchase or transport of Iranian crude oil and petroleum and petrochemical products. It is also likely to prohibit the provision, directly or indirectly of finance, insurance or reinsurance related to such import, purchase or transport.There has been widespread press comment upon the implications for non-EU tanker owners and third parties if such a ban is imposed. In line with other EU laws it is probable that it will prohibit the participation, knowingly or intentionally in activities the object or effect of which is to circumvent the above prohibitions. A recent EU court judgment has demonstrated that the court is likely to adopt a wide interpretation of restrictive measures imposed against Iran or other states.On 18 February 2012 a judgment by the European Court was issued in relation to an earlier Regulation imposing restrictive measures against Iran to prevent nuclear proliferation (Regulation 423/2007). That Regulation entered into force in April 2007. Since then further Regulations ...

Responsibility of the owner or the insurer towards the payment of damage Granting relief to the Romanian insurer of the MV Rak carrier - a vessel that sank off Mumbai's coast in August last year - the Bombay High Court directed the Director General (DG) (Shipping) to give the insurance firm a hearing before black-listing it and preventing other vessels, insured by the firm, from entering Indian ports.Widening the issue, Justice P B Majmudar and Justice R D Dhanuka also asked the Qatar-based company Delta - that owned the MV Rak - and its Dubai-based charterer and agent to be joined as parties in the litigation.The court said the issue of the responsibility of the owner or the insurer towards the payment of damages for environment pollution, caused by the sunken ship, needs to be ascertained."Somewhere it should be sorted out," the court said pointing out that pollution caused by the leakage of oil from a sinking vessel poses serious environmental hazard. The court said it needs to be determined whether or not an insurer can be held accountable for the damages if the owner of the vessel fails to respond.In the interim period, however, there would be no restriction ...