Company accused of breaching Libya sanctions says it will ‘clear name’ in court

The company that has been accused of breaching European Union sanctions imposed on Libya said it will clear its name in court.

On Friday, the police charged five men – the owner of the company, James Fenech, aged 41 of Mellieħa, and four employees, two men from Mellieħa aged 63 and 45, a 47-year-old man of Floriana and a 44-yearold man of St Paul’s Bay. Charges were also issued against the company, Sovereign Charterers Limited.

The police had said that an investigation was launched when the police received information that a company registered in Malta exported two vessels to Libya without authorisation. The men were accused of selling, transferring or exporting, without authorisation, two Rigid Hull Inflatable Boats (RHIBS) registered in Malta to

Libya in breach of the European Union sanctions on Libya, imposed on 18 January 2016.

In a statement, the company said that in June 2019 “we were approached by a very reputable and globally-known company operating in the UAE to charter two of our vessels for 90 days.”

The vessels were contracted on a purely ‘bare boat’ charter basis. This means that no crew was used and to be used solely and exclusively for evacuation purposes, the company said.

Crucially, the two vessels left Malta carrying all the necessary permits both from Malta Customs as well as from the Police Immigration unit, it added.

Although the chartering agreement with the client was for 90 days, the situation in Libya had escalated rapidly and within a few days of their delivery the client decided to use the vessels to evacuate the personnel immediately, the company said.

“Upon arrival in Malta, all 21 of the client’s evacuated management and personnel – mostly holding British, French, American, Australian and South African passports – were admitted according to all applicable Maltese laws and procedures,” the company said.

Shortly after their arrival, the management and personnel were allowed to fly out of Malta and return to their respective countries and families, again in full accordance with all applicable Maltese laws and procedures, the company added

The company “flatly and categorically denies all the allegations that this charter was in any way connected to money laundering or military purposes. We shall look forward to clearing our names and our company’s under oath in court.”