- Cambodia has asked Indonesia to extradite the crew of a tanker who it accuses of stealing $21 million worth of crude pumped from the country’s first commercialized oil field.
- The ship’s manager said earlier this week that the vessel’s captain acted to protect the crew’s welfare after the company that chartered the tanker failed to resupply it and terminated the charter agreement.
A recent news article published in the Asia Nikkei website states that Cambodia charges tanker crew with ‘theft’ of crude oil.
Ship’s cargo stolen
In a statement on Thursday, Cambodia’s Ministry of Mines and Energy said “various” criminal charges have been laid in Cambodia against the crew of the Strovolos, including stealing the ship’s cargo.
“The theft and/or misappropriation of the crude oil by the owners, managers and the crew of the MT Strovolos, and their accomplices constitute criminal acts pursuant to the relevant Cambodian laws.”
Singapore-traded KrisEnergy
The Bahamas-flagged tanker was chartered by Singapore-traded KrisEnergy to store crude extracted from Cambodia’s Block A concession, which KrisEnergy operated.
When production began last December, the public-private venture that operated the field became the mainland Southeast Asian country’s first commercial oil concern.
Holding some 295,000 barrels of oil, the Strovolos departed on June 19 after KrisEnergy went bankrupt.
It sailed to Thailand and then on to Indonesia, where it was detained in July for entering that country’s waters without permission.
The vessel’s crew was questioned recently by Indonesian authorities following the completion of local court proceedings against the captain.
Ship’s captain and his role
According to a verdict on Sept. 22 from the Batam District Court, the ship’s captain, identified as Sazzedeen S.M., was found guilty of failing to comply with the conduct of sea traffic in Indonesian waters. He was sentenced to 15 days imprisonment and fined 100 million rupiah ($7,000).
Cambodia said it has requested the crew’s arrest and extradition via an Interpol Red Notice as well as by making a direct request to Indonesia.
A spokesman for Indonesia’s foreign ministry on Thursday told Nikkei Asia that he was checking with relevant authorities for comment on Cambodia’s extradition request.
Cambodia’s Ministry of Mines and Energy rejected accusations made this week by the ship’s owner and manager that Cambodia had violated the sailors’ human rights by seeking Indonesia’s cooperation, saying they would receive a “fair trial and due process” in Cambodia.
The Royal Government of Cambodia
“The Royal Government of Cambodia is seeking to bring to justice those charged with having committed serious criminal offenses, now that the Indonesian proceedings have been completed,” the statement says.
A ministry spokesman told Nikkei that he could not specify exactly what charges had been filed against the sailors, deferring to the country’s courts. Nikkei has requested further information from the Ministry of Justice.
What did the ship owner say?
In a statement released earlier this week on behalf of the ship’s owner and itself, World Tankers Management, the ship’s manager, accused Cambodia of wrongful conduct, saying the vessel’s captain acted to protect the crew’s welfare after KrisEnergy failed to resupply the tanker and terminated its charter agreement.
Further, World Tankers says Cambodia is trying to coerce it into returning the oil before its ownership is decided by a court and before the vessel’s owners are paid for their services.
Cambodia’s Ministry of Mines and Energy
In its statement, Cambodia’s Ministry of Mines and Energy said the tanker left “illegally” without providing notice or getting “relevant permits and approvals” from authorities.
The ministry also said the vessel’s tracking system, or automatic identification system, was deactivated as the tanker departed Cambodian waters, when it left Thai waters and as it entered Indonesian waters. It called that “a danger to life at sea” and added that “it prevented her from being detected.”
The ministry, which was a 5% stakeholder in the venture with KrisEnergy, said there was no questioning the country’s ownership of the oil.
“The true position is that the crude oil has at all relevant times been the property of the Kingdom of Cambodia,” the statement says, adding that the vessel’s owner and manager had been “clearly notified” of this position “some months ago.”
It said that any commercial dispute that the boat’s owner and manager had with KrisEnergy had “nothing to do with the Royal Government of Cambodia.”
Nikkei has reached out to World Tankers and KrisEnergy for comment.
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Source: Asia Nikkei
