Russian Interior Ministry investigators are looking into the case of the federally-owned drillship Valentin Shashin, which they say was illegally rented out to a Norwegian company.
The ministry said on Thursday that the state Arktikmorneftegazrazvedka (Arktik) company rented out the ship to the Norwegian companies ARBA AS and Venture Drilling AS in 2005 without permission from the Federal Property Management Agency.
Investigators say the companies renamed the vessel Deep Venture, in violation of international law, and subleased it.
“The contract specified the vessel rental price as $21,000 a day, but the real rental cost…should have been be more than $50,000 a day. Foreign companies rented the ship out for $340,000 – $550,000 per day,” a statement by the ministry’s Investigative Committee said, adding that the deal had cost the Russian government $10 million.
The Valentin Shashin was returned to Russia in February 2011.
A criminal case has been opened.
MOSCOW, March 3 (RIA Novosti)
