southernman 73 Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 Interesting one - Pete you know any inside info on this you can pass on? http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/south-pacific/8204226/Super-yacht-intrigue-unfolding-across-Pacific Link to post Share on other sites
smithy09 50 Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 Very interesting indeed!! Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 The boat has certainly had a lot of newspaper ink dedicated to it for the last 6 months. The Stuff article has most of the "facts" that we are getting here but one other interesting point is another smaller superyacht that is under detention here was registered in Vanuatu on the same day as the allegedly forged documents for Phocea are dated. The original mission for the yacht was a debt collection here with Tongan thugs to do the dirty work. Said Tongans were handed Vanuatu passports upon their arrival and are now fully fledged Vanuatu citizens. Even though the passports were issued illegally there is a clause in the constitution that states that a Vanuatu passport cannot not be taken off a citizen and citizenship cannot be revoked. All good stuff for the boring times between cyclones. Link to post Share on other sites
otto 31 Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 And more interesting. Now here's a movie. http://vanuatudaily.wordpress.com/tag/phocea/ Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 But wait, there's more. Today's paper carries an article about the director of Marine & Ports being suspended last Friday. It was the director who refused to release the ship even after the prime minister said it should be released. He's suffering the same fate as the police officer who headed up the original investigation into the yacht- also suspended. A month or more ago one of the new cabinet ministers here signed a deed of release to allow the ship to leave on posting a 10K bond. Marine & Ports director refused (rightly IMO) to release the ship, minister who signed the deed (and no doubt received a handsome addition to an offshore account) was found dead in mysterious circumstances shortly afterwards, buried in a hurry with no autopsy. Would you like some banana with your republic sir? Link to post Share on other sites
Murky 1 Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 Presumably a very short queue of volunteers lining up to be the next person to make a decision on this case? Link to post Share on other sites
southernman 73 Posted January 22, 2013 Author Share Posted January 22, 2013 ahhh great stuff. I love stories like this. Gives you a little more understanding of how the real world actually works! Link to post Share on other sites
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