A court has upheld a request by a fishing company to block the striking-off of five vessels, part-owned by ex-footballer Darren Debono, from the Maltese shipping register.
World Water Fisheries Ltd had filed an application for a warrant of prohibitory injunction against the Registrar General of Shipping and the Ministry of Transport.
The former footballer, who holds shares in the fishing company, owner of the vessels MV Marie De Lourdes, Marie De Lourdes I, III,V and MV Albasel, is being held under arrest in Italy pending ongoing proceedings over his alleged involvement in an oil-smuggling racket from Libya to Italy.
Arguing that it “was not in the national interest to be tainted by such actions as those of Darren Debono,” the registrar and the ministry pointed out that Malta had painstakingly established its reputation as a flag state of good standing over the years.
The company countered that the vessels targeted by the deflagging procedure had always been used for fishing and had no connection whatsoever with the illicit crude oil business.
Moreover, the criminal proceedings against Mr Debono, one of the shareholders, were still ongoing in Italy, with no similar charges being pressed against him in Malta.
Mr Justice Joseph Zammit McKeon, observed that the UN Sanctions Monitoring Board had at first recommended that “all economic operators and financial institutions in the Republic of Malta exercise enhanced due diligence when dealing with the persons, entities and bodies listed by the OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control within US Treasury Department) and with assets belonging to these persons, entities and bodies.”
However, three days after its pronouncement, the same board had altered its stance, recommending the striking off of the vessels to send “a strong message, nationally and internationally on matters relating to the observance of international law.”
Such an inexplicable change by the board amounted to a “draconian and premature” measure, possibly resulting in damage for World Water Fisheries Ltd which would be “greatly disproportionate” to that potentially incurred by the defendants, the judge said.
Stateless vessels forfeited all their rights, including the EU fishing licence, the judge observed, upholding the application for the warrant, thereby halting the de flagging of the vessels.