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Sentence passed over Dalny Vostok trawler wreckage case

A court has recognized the evidence collected by the Head Office of the Investigative Committee as sufficient to convict senior managers of OOO Magellan – first deputy CEO Aleksei Vasin, deputy CEO for navigation safety Alexander Kudritsky, former captain of the Dalny Vostok Trawler Anatoly Borisov, head of navigation safety, fishing certification and monitoring office of Rosrybolovstvo’s Sakhalinrubvod Nikolai Kharchenko, state inspector of Rosrybolovstvo (federal fishing agency) Alexander Nikodimenko. Depending on the role of each one they were found guilty of violation of safety standards for traffic and operation of water transport entailing death of two or more people by negligence under Part 3 of Article 263, bribery under Part 3 of Article 290, abuse of office under Part 3 of Article 285 and negligence under Part 3 of Article 293 of the RF Penal Code.

The court and investigators have revealed that the cause of the wreckage was the list of the trawler to the left because of hauling a trawl with large catch (some 130 tons). However, the further sinking of the ship was due to a number of causes, the most important of which was poor condition of the ship. This was owing to the fact that CEO of OOO Magellan Yegor Gashchenko had had the trawler re-equipped in the port of Pusan, Korea so that it had more fish processing capacity, which was increased from 140 to more than 200 tons a day. As a result, some of the vessel’s parts that made it stable, including extreme situations, had simply been taken out. With almost empty tanks, the trawler was filled with 1,400 tons of fish making its capacity even worse.

Actions of other managers of Magellan company also had direct effect on the tragedy. Vasin and Kudritsky had received the data from the captain of the trawler on the amount of fish caught and had been aware that the maximum permissible weight had been exceeded. They should have and could have prohibited further voyage, but they hadn’t done it.

Kharchenko, before the vessel set off, had received from a subordinate information that there were no safety operation system documents, which made the voyage impossible. However, he had ignored the fact and had issued a temporary safety certificate for 6 months.

Nikodimenko, who had inspected the trawler with coast guards in the open sea, was aware that there were too much people onboard and there was not enough rescue equipment. He should have reported it to his superiors, but had preferred to turn a blind eye and permit the voyage for a bribe of 500 US dollars. As a result, when the ship started sinking, there were not enough life jackets for everybody aboard.

Along with looking into the causes of the wreckage and proving the guilt of the defendants, the investigators also took care about compensating for the damage done by arresting the assets and accounts of Magellan company worth more than 13 million rubles and the Andromeda vessel. Additionally, they arrested the property of the defendants worth more than 15 million rubles.

The court has sentenced the accused to between 5 years 8months and 6.5 years in prison and banned them from taking positions in the sea or river transportation.

 

Spokesperson for the Investigative Committee                                                                                    Svetlana Petrenko