The highly awaited auction of the Russian Superyacht which has been abandoned in Antigua and Barbuda waters since February last year, will take place on Friday.
Dominican Darwin Telemaque, who is the head of port operations in the neighboring sister isles made that confirmation a short while ago.
He reported that the auction will take place at 10 o’clock and those who will bid on the luxury yacht have already gone through the due diligence process.
However, selling the Alfa Nero was not easy sailing for the twin island nation. The government had gone through turbulent waters to seize the vessel and is still paying for the bills that the boat has been racking up.
Last month, the United States delisted the Alfa Nero after it was sanctioned by the US following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
It is believed to have been owned by sanctioned Russian fertilizer tycoon Andrey Guryev – a claim Guryev has denied.
In mid-April, the Russian vessel was officially made a property of Antigua and Barbuda, with a flag solidifying its ownership.
The boat was not only racking up debts incurred by staffing/crew, WIOC refueling, provisioning, and some maintenance upkeep but environmentalists in St Johns say it was posing some major environmental risks for the marina.
The government’s intention was to quickly sell the Alfa Nero which could be sold for US$80 million.
Gosh I wish that I could afford to buy such a yacht for say £5 pounds. But alas, I am not a rich man. I think that the bid will be lower than $80 million. No serious buyer will want to put good clean taxed income into something, where such bad people like Russians owned it. Any one associated with Mr Putin has blood on his hands. Honest people like me had better stop dreaming and leave it well alone.
A God fearing man would say that this boat is the Devil and we must keep far from it.
I hope everybody builds one dollar
Oh look russian trolls here also.
a whole country is about to get sued
counties all over the globe have impounded Russian businessmen owned yatchs and NONE of them has descided to auction those
but the man so smart he not seeing other countries know better than to sell someones personal posessions. you in little antigua gonna be in big trouble if u all sell the persons yatch . wait and see
just remember that the owner was never accused or convicted of any crime. so you all have no legal course to sell of the property
The original and current owner of the Alfa Nero is pursuing fierce legal actions to prevent his prized possession from being auctioned off by a desperate administration.
The cash strapped Brown paper bag regime has taken an expedited path to get their hands on the money from the sale of this super yacht to augment their sagging treasury.
I predict that after this massive show and dance before the duped, undoubting local and regional media outlets, the sale of the yacht would be involved in prolonged legal entanglement. No human being will surrender his multi- million possession without a fierce fight.