The prosecutor's office suspects the ex-commander of the marine guard ship of malpractice. According to the investigation, while on duty in the Black Sea, he did not detain the tanker, although he knew about a pile of broken vessels.
This was reported by the press service of the Odesa Regional Prosecutor's Office.
"In particular, during the inspection of the ship by the border guards, it was established that the tanker crossed the state border of Ukraine without the necessary documents and with less than the required number of crew, with a crew of three instead of five people. The unsatisfactory condition of the ship was also recorded, namely the inoperability of the ship's main engines, the loss of one of the anchors, unstable communication systems, lack of fuel and provisions," the prosecutor's office said.
The prosecutor's office believes that if the commander of the marine guard had escorted Delfi to the nearest port, all of this would not have happened. According to the investigation, these shortcomings created the conditions for a threat to the life and health of crew members and other people. Because of this, in November 2019, the tanker broke anchor in Yuzhny port, drifted into the sea and ran aground near Dolphin beach.
Meanwhile, in the maritime security they claim that the tanker did not cross the border of Ukraine. According to them, this was actually the territory of another country and they had no legal basis to escort the Delfi tanker to the port of Ukraine.
"In the understanding of sea borders, the Delfi tanker did not cross the state border of Ukraine. He was abroad. And when the governmental group of the sea guard boarded the tanker in order to check operational information about its possible involvement in illegal activities, the sea guard specialists revealed some violations that were discovered on the vessel, but they did not concern the law enforcement activities of the border guards. The commander of the coast guard reported the violations to the relevant structures," said the press secretary of the coast guard Natalya Humenyuk.
As a reminder, the ship was lying ashore for almost an hour — from November 2019 to September 2020. Oil leaked from the Delfi tanker into the sea. This caused 7 million hryvnias of damage to the environment and the state. In addition, transportation of the tanker cost about UAH 14 million.
