Firm issued fake insurance for Russian oil tankers, Norway's FSA says

(Reuters) - The insurance issued to dozens of ageing oil tankers used by Russia to skirt international sanctions was bogus, according to Norwegian authorities now investigating the small firm behind the forged documents.

    Norway-registered Romarine AS purported to be an insurance provider with a website listing dozens of tankers believed to be part of Russia's shadow fleet, including vessels under Western sanctions.

    However, the company was not registered as an insurance provider by Norway's Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA), the FSA said.

    Western nations have imposed sanctions on hundreds of ships they suspect Russia is using to avoid price cap restrictions on exports of crude oil and other cargoes.

    Such vessels are not regulated or covered by conventional Western insurers, posing the risk of unsafe tankers and environmental damage in the event of a wreck.

    What makes the matter of Romarine stand out is that the firm made an effort to show the tankers involved had Western insurance coverage in the event of pollution or sinking.

    "It's an extremely unusual case," Jo Gjedrem, an official at the FSA, told Reuters.

    The FSA sent a warning to Romarine in January, but the company failed to respond, the authority told Reuters, prompting it to issue an order on March 4 instructing the firm to halt operations.

Romarine in response to emailed questions from Reuters said it was aware of the FSA's March 4 order and that it had replied "with some delay through our lawyers".     Romarine said it operated in line with applicable regulations, but that it had decided to stop taking new business until there is "positive feedback from the authority". The FSA said it had received no reply from Romarine.

    Romarine AS is fully owned by Andrey Mochalin, a Russian citizen and former employee of Norwegian insurer Hydor AS, Norwegian commercial database Proff shows.  

    Johan Gjernes, Romarine's former chairman and Hydor AS's chief business officer, told Reuters by email that Romarine was sold to Mochalin who owns it outright. Gjernes resigned from Romarine in August 2023, while Mochalin became its chairman a year later, Norway's official company registry shows.    Romarine’s website is located in Russia, according to Norid AS, Norway’s government-run registry of domain names. Two commercial IP locating websites pinpointed an address in St Petersburg. 

    Mochalin did not return Reuters' telephone calls, text messages, LinkedIn and WhatsApp messages or requests for comment sent by email.

    SHIPS UNDER SANCTIONS

    Romarine's website as of early March listed at least 30 oil tankers subject to U.S., EU or UK sanctions, including the oil tankers Captain Kostichev and Ionia, two vessels which appeared in certificates of insurance presented to Russian port authorities seen by Reuters.

    It has deleted some names since.

    A certificate of insurance provided by the Gabon-flagged tanker Ionia to Russian port authorities in Primorsk on February 2 and dated January 9 listed Romarine as its insurance provider.

    Another presented to port authorities in De Kastri in Russia's Far East by the Panama-flagged Captain Kostichev was dated March 24 also listed Romarine as its insurer.

    Although that certificate said it was valid until April 24, the vessel has since been deleted from Romarine's website while the Ionia remains.

    The Captain Kostichev is operated by United Arab Emirates-based Stream Ship Management, LSEG data shows.

    The Ionia is owned and operated by Seychelles-based Narus Maritime Corporation.

    Reuters was not able to reach either company for comment.

    When asked about insuring vessels that are subject to Western sanctions, Romarine said they appeared on its website by mistake due to a technical glitch.

    "We have implemented our new system with automatic input some weeks ago and (we are) working to find out what went wrong," the company said in an emailed reply to Reuters received on March 12.

    Gjedrem said the FSA became concerned about Romarine after it received an emailed inquiry last September from overseas asking about a document carrying FSA's letterhead which certified Romarine as a vessel’s insurer.

    "We immediately saw that it was false," Gjedrem said. "The letterhead had possibly been copied and pasted into the forged document. It cited non-existent Norwegian law. The person who signed it never worked at Finanstilsynet (the FSA), and the stamp was false."

    The FSA on March 25 posted a warning on its website against using the services of Romarine.

    Oslo police have also launched an investigation into Romarine's business activities after receiving a complaint from the FSA.

    The police told Reuters they were investigating four people - two Norwegian citizens, one Bulgarian and a Russian - on suspicion of creating and using falsified documents and performing insurance mediation activities without a licence.

    They said a search of the residence of one of the suspects was conducted in late March.

    Norwegian public broadcaster NRK was the first to report the police investigation.

    Romarine did not reply to a Reuters request for comment on the police probe.

    Russia's Ministry of Transport and its Federal Agency for Sea and Inland Water Transport did not reply to Reuters' requests for comment about the Norwegian investigation into Romarine or its order for the firm to halt operations.  

(Reporting by Gleb Stolyarov, Nerijus Adomaitis in Oslo and Reuters reporters in Moscow; additional reporting by Nidhi Verma in New Delhi; editing by Nina Chestney and Jason Neely)