The purported owner of the cargoship that carried explosive cargo to Beirut has denied he had anything to do with the vessel.
Nikolay Petrov Hristov said his Burgas-based Interfleet Shipmanagement "has never entered into a contract" with the 3,226-dwt Rhosus (built 1986) registered to owner Briarwood Corp.
He made the comments in an interview with Bulgarian language publication Maritime.bg.
According to shipping databases, Interfleet and Briarwood share the same address and Interfleet is listed as the Rhosus' manager.
"In this case, we are talking about fraud and [the] falsifying of documents, which is likely the reason the ship was arrested in Beirut," Hristov told Maritime.bg, according to a translation obtained by TradeWinds.
Maritime.bg noted Hristov was unable to prove those accusations.
The Moldovan-flagged Rhosus was said to have been detained by Lebanese authorities in 2013 over $100,000 in unpaid bills after it was diverted to Beirut during a voyage from Georgia to Mozambique laden with 2,700 tonnes of ammonium nitrate.
Abandoned
The ship was then abandoned. Most of its crew were soon repatriated, but the captain and three others were not allowed to disembark.
In 2014, local law firm Baroudi & Associates convinced the courts to allow the four to go, and the Rhosus' cargo was moved to a nearby warehouse, where it stayed until Tuesday's blast.
The explosion razed the port of Beirut, killing more than 100 and injuring thousands.
It is still unclear how the highly-explosive substance ignited, but Lebanese President Michel Aoun said on Friday that it was either the cause of negligence or foreign intervention in the form of a missile or bomb.
He rejected the need for an international investigation.
Aoun's statement stands in contrast to early suggestions the blast was an industrial accident, seemingly backed up by the reported house arrest of various port officials.
His statement does echo Prime Minister Hassan Diab's statement in the wake of the blast that promised retribution for those responsible.
Ownership unclear
Equasis, a database of ships and companies maintained by French authorities, lists Briarwood Corp as the registered owner and Interfleet Shipmanagement as the manager.
The International Maritime Organization-run Global Integrated Shipping Information System (GISIS) also identifies Briarwood Corp as the owner.
Briarwood's address is listed as the "care of Interfleet Shipmanagement" in Burgas. It has been the ship's registered owner since 2008. Interfleet has been the manager since 2009.
However, reports spread in the popular press that the Rhosus was owned by Teto Shipping, which crew members reportedly said is controlled by Cyprus-based Russian businessman Igor Grechushkin.
Teto Shipping is absent from Equasis, the GISIS, Clarksons Shipping Intelligence Network and VesselsValue.
The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project identified Teto Shipping as the Rhosus' charterer, citing Moldovan authorities.
The Moldovan Naval Agency, which appears to run the country's flag registry, did not respond to emailed questions from TradeWinds, nor did Baroudi & Associates.
