Ship captains held by Indonesian navy decry bribes and betrayal

MANILA, Sept 28 (Reuters) – Stricken by mosquitoes at night time and marauding monkeys by day, ship captain Glenn Madoginog was held for months at an Indonesian naval base earlier than ending up in a cramped jail cell, sleeping alongside convicted murderers and youngster rapists.

The Filipino father of 4 was one in every of dozens of captains held on the Batam naval base after being arrested for anchoring in Indonesian waters with no allow whereas ready to enter Singapore, in keeping with a dozen folks concerned within the instances, together with captains, ship homeowners, intermediaries and insurers.

Many of the captains had been freed after a number of weeks as soon as ship homeowners made unofficial funds to navy intermediaries of between $300,000 and $400,000, the folks mentioned.

However Madoginog, 47, says his agency declined so he and his vessel, the 20-year-old Seaways Rubymar oil tanker, remained captive on the base on Batam, an Indonesian island 20 miles (32 km) south of Singapore.

After a six-month wait, Madoginog was sentenced in March to 60 days in jail, his once-proud life as a captain shattered as he ended up in a crowded, cockroach-infested cell.

“The previous couple of months had been the worst time of my life,” Madoginog informed Reuters in his condominium within the capital of the Philippines, Manila, the place he returned in Might.

“I really feel hopeless. I really feel ashamed.”

U.S. firm Worldwide Seaways (INSW.N), one of many world’s greatest tanker operators and proprietor of the Seaways Rubymar when it was detained, mentioned it had pursued all authorized avenues to get Madoginog and the vessel launched.

“As a matter of coverage, we don’t pay bribes,” it mentioned in an emailed response to Reuters, including that it did all it may to enhance Madoginog’s situations whereas in custody and continued to supply monetary and medical assist to him and his household.

The Seaways Rubymar has since been scrapped.

Dozens of ships ready to enter Singapore have been seized during the last yr by the Indonesian navy for illegally anchoring in its waters, with most being launched after ship homeowners made unofficial funds, Reuters has reported.

The waters simply to the east of Singapore have been used for many years by ships ready to enter the city-state however the Indonesian navy has cracked down on vessels it says are anchoring in its territory with out paying port charges.

The Indonesian navy has mentioned it by no means requests or receives cash to launch vessels. Detentions are dealt with via the courts, or ships are launched if there’s inadequate proof to prosecute, a navy spokesman has mentioned.

The navy didn’t reply to requests for added remark for this story.

Spokesman Julius Widjojono informed Reuters this month, nevertheless, that the navy chief was sending an investigation staff to Batam, with out giving additional particulars or a timeframe.

‘THIS IS PIRACY’

The 4 captains mentioned they believed they’d been held for ransom in a well-organised extortion scheme run by navy members, as beforehand reported by Reuters.

David Ledoux, an American who was captain of the fibre-optic cable-laying ship Reliance when it was arrested final yr, mentioned he dodged jail after the vessel’s proprietor made an unofficial fee to free him.

“That is piracy in its easiest kind: arrest the ship, arrest the captain, maintain the corporate ransom, accumulate the cash,” Ledoux informed Reuters in his house in New Bern, North Carolina, additionally accusing navy members of orchestrating the scheme.

Reuters was unable to find out the quantity paid to free the ship, or when the fee was made.

The proprietor of the Reliance, SubCom, which is an undersea cable firm primarily based within the U.S. state of New Jersey, didn’t reply to requests for remark.

The U.S. embassy in Jakarta informed Reuters it was conscious of the ship detentions and funds being made to “events claiming to symbolize the Indonesian Navy”.

“Ships ought to train warning when navigating these waters,” a U.S. official mentioned, with out addressing additional questions.

The choice to creating a fee to intermediaries engaged on behalf of the navy is to attend for instances to go to court docket, leaving ships idle for months and probably costing homeowners way more in misplaced income for vessels they will lease for tens of 1000’s of {dollars} a day.

Ledoux, 57, questioned why extra wasn’t being achieved by ship homeowners and governments to lift consciousness of the problem.

The Worldwide Maritime Group (IMO), a U.N. company answerable for transport safety and security, mentioned it investigates issues raised by its members and it had but to obtain a request to look into this situation.

INTERNATIONAL WATERS

The realm the place ships had been detained is greater than 12 nautical miles (22 km) from the principle Indonesian shoreline, the usual distance thought-about to be in worldwide waters underneath the United Nations Conference on the Regulation of the Sea.

The Reliance and the Seaways Rubymar had been anchored within the space, referred to as East OPL (exterior port limits), the captains mentioned.

Nevertheless, Indonesia is a sprawling archipelago of over 17,000 islands and territorial waters might be drawn round uninhabited islands or drying reefs which may imply captains imagine, incorrectly, they’re in worldwide waters, ship insurers and a maritime lawyer mentioned.

“That is why folks have been caught out,” mentioned Stephen Askins, a maritime lawyer in London.

Ledoux mentioned, nevertheless, that he had been informed the place to anchor by SubCom’s agent in Singapore, Ben Line. Madoginog mentioned his anchorage place had been authorized by V-Ships, the London-based firm managing his tanker, with out offering proof.

Ben Line denied any allegations of wrongdoing, with out addressing questions in regards to the anchorage. V-Ships didn’t reply to a request for remark.

Ledoux and most captains detained by the navy had been launched inside a number of weeks after ship homeowners made a fee, the 12 folks concerned within the transactions informed Reuters.

When Ledoux was launched on Oct. 28, he sailed the Reliance to Singapore for upkeep.

As soon as the repairs had been full, he was referred to as by SubCom’s director of fleet operations, Scott Winfield, saying his tone had shifted from compassionate to hostile.

“He mentioned, ‘higher administration needs some ass, and it is going to be yours’, so you are going to be demoted,” mentioned Ledoux, who misplaced his mood and resigned.

Winfield and SubCom didn’t reply to requests for remark.

Madoginog mentioned he was detained on Sept. 16 final yr in a daybreak raid by naval officers. He mentioned they informed him to sail to Batam and are available onshore to signal port clearance papers – and that it might solely take a few hours.

When he arrived, he was put in a darkish, sweltering room by the officers, with solely an uncovered mattress and a dirty squat rest room. One officer requested for the cellphone variety of his ship’s homeowners and left.

“There have been no pillows, no linens, no air-con, no followers, nothing,” mentioned Madoginog, including that at one level he counted 27 different captains in comparable rooms.

Madoginog and Ledoux struck up a friendship, washing garments and burning trash collectively within the yard exterior their rooms, protecting an eye fixed out for long-tailed macaques able to cost at anybody with meals.

‘THEY LEFT ME BEHIND’

Buana Saka Samudera, the Indonesian agent for Worldwide Seaways, offered Madoginog with meals, bedding and an air-con unit for his room on the bottom and finally received him his personal cell and higher meals in jail, he mentioned.

Buana Saka Samudera didn’t reply to requests for remark.

Madoginog mentioned he isn’t at present working and is receiving remedy for despair following his ordeal.

Different captains additionally had their rooms on the Batam base upgraded by native brokers paid by shipowners, they informed Reuters. After captains had been launched, navy personnel typically moved into the refurbished quarters, Madoginog and Ledoux mentioned.

Madoginog mentioned he remained on the bottom till mid-November, when navy officers despatched him and the opposite captains again to their ships after a Reuters article in regards to the arrests.

An Indonesian navy spokesman didn’t reply to a request for remark.

Madoginog stayed on his ship by the Batam base till he was convicted in March of unlawful anchorage and sentenced to 2 months in jail, court docket paperwork present.

He says he did not perceive what the prosecutor, choose or his interpreter had been saying and wasn’t capable of give proof at a number of court docket hearings.

Reuters has not seen what proof was offered on the trial to show the ship was in Indonesian waters.

Batam District Court docket spokesman Edy Sameaputty mentioned the trial was performed in keeping with the related felony regulation and that Madoginog had been given the proper to a defence.

By the point he received out of jail, Madoginog’s ship and crew had been gone and nobody from the corporate was there to satisfy him.

“They left me behind,” he mentioned.

Reporting by Joe Brock; Extra reporting by Julio-Cesar Chavez in New Bern, Adrian Portugal and Eloisa Lopez in Manila and Yuddy Cahya Budiman in Jakarta; Modifying by David Clarke

Our Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Belief Ideas.