ODESSA – City transport officials have initiated criminal proceedings against Black Sea Steamship Company (BLASCO) Director Aleksandr Stognienko for improprieties allegedly committed during the sale for scrap of 11 ships this year, according to a reliable shipping industry source and a report in Morskie Vedemosti 24 May. The Odessa Transport Prosecutor's office has filed charges against Stognienko and company Vice President Anatoliy Antonov for 'illegally liquidizing state property' at the end of April, alleging the BLASCO managers had sold the vessels, including the near-hulks Kapitan Anistratenko, Sevan, A. Tsiurikh, and V. Kliuchkov, at less than market prices and without permission of the State Property Fund – the agency which determines what state property may or may not be sold to private business. A source inside BLASCO said company management had applied to the SPF in mid January for permission to sell the ships, which had a combined value of some $10 million. Although Stogenienko and Antonov reportedly received verbal approval from Transportation Ministry officials, written approval of the sales were still not available by April 30, by which time all 11 ships had been sold and broken up in Indian cutting yards. The ships actually netted $161 per ton of scrap, as compared to a prevailing market rate of $153 per ton, and all the money from the sale went towards paying off company debts, according to the newspaper report. The Post attempted to contact Stognienko and Antonov for comment, but to date neither has returned phone calls. Stognienko and Antonov have already run afoul of the legal authorities. On May 6 Odessa Judge Aleksandr Golovchenko issued a warrant for the company cars used by BLASCO's two top executives. The cars have since been seized and will be held in government custody pending BLASCO's compliance with a court order to pay some $200,000 in back wages to its sailors.
