Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1251774
3 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 27 MAY 2020 NEWS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Fenech appeared in the dock before Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech, accused together with four Maltese men – Michael Cauchi, Konrad Agius, Charles Bugeja and Bertrand Agius – of supply- ing men and equipment to a United Ar- ab Emirates company now suspected of acting as a front to assist mercenaries in a helicopter gunship operation for Gen- eral Khalifa Haftar of the Libyan National Army. Inspector Omar Zammit told the mag- istrate that the 20 men on the RHIB (Rig- id-Hull Inflatable Boat) which arrived in Malta last year had told the authorities that they were employed by a geological survey company. Asked why they had left Libya on the boats, they had said that they had done so because they had become concerned by the increased military pres- ence in Benghazi. It emerged that the UAE firm Opus Capital had made an agreement with Sov- ereign Charterers for the RHIBs, which were registered as pleasure boats and rented for €15,000 each. €480,000 were paid to Opus by Maltese company Lancaster 6 Limited for the contract, Fenech had told the police. In comments outside court, James Fenech confirmed with MaltaToday of having known Lancaster 6's CEO Chris- tiaan Durrant, a sometime Malta resident and former associate of former US Navy SEAL Erik Prince, founder of private mil- itary company Blackwater. Lancaster 6 and Opus Capital were the primary com- panies used for the mercenaries' mission, dubbed 'Project Opus'. A charter party agreement for the boats was given to the police by Fenech, Inspec- tor Zammit confirmed. Zammit said that Malta's Sanctions Monitoring Board had said there was a breach of sanctions when the RHIBs left Malta without the necessary clearance. Fenech's defence lawyer Joe Giglio said Sovereign Charters rents out vessels un- der charter party agreements. "These 20 people leaving Libya were employees of Opus Capital and their company had brought RHIBs to evacuate personnel if necessary," he went on. Zammit confirmed that the charter par- ty and crew list were given to the police without difficulty by James Fenech. Opus Capital also engaged law firm Mamo TCV to check the charter party agreement, the court was told. Reading from the charter party agree- ment, Giglio said that it had been written that the charter party was being made for the purpose of evacuation of oil and gas personnel. "So in reality, Sovereign Char- terers didn't hide the fact that the RHIBs would be used in Libya," Giglio told the court. Mamo TCV, in the charter party agree- ment, said that it would be up to the char- terers Opus Capital to obtain permis- sion to enter the territorial waters of any country. But Zammit replied that the operator needed to get clearance before travelling to Libya. In reply to Giglio, Zammit admitted the police had not checked the transponders on the RHIBs. Neville Aquilina, the chairman of the Sanctions Monitoring Board, said per- mission to transfer the boats to Libya was never requested from the Sanctions Mon- itoring Board. Aside from going to cus- toms, immigration and lawyers with the agreement, Sovereign needed "a paper" from the board to authorise the transfer. This authorisation was not requested or given, he said. "All they had needed was a stamp from the Sanctions Monitoring Board," Giglio said. Meanwhile, the court lifted the freez- ing orders imposed on all defendants bar Fenech and Bugeja, after the prosecution declared that there was no longer a need for them. The defence requested the lift- ing of the freezing order on the other two men. Assault helicopter pilots The 20 private military contractors (PMCs) who were evacuated from war- torn Libya aboard two Malta-leased RHIBs and to Valletta, were aviation ex- perts getting ready to operate assault hel- icopters, MaltaToday has learnt. A full list of names in this newspaper's possession clearly shows the men who arrived at the Valletta seaport on the Manta-1 rigid inflatable boat on 3 July were not oil and gas personnel, but PMCs with evident military experience. The men were re- leased from their arrest by police two days after the Mal- tese company that leased them the two RHIBs, Sovereign Charters, accepted to pay a €15,000 fine for immigration irregu- larities. Now police inves- tigators have learned that the men were specialist pilots engaged to operate six utility and support helicopters, to be armed for "assault and interdiction op- erations"; as well as seacraft from Malta with maritime interdiction capability to target the sea supply route for weapons from Turkey to the Government of Na- tional Accord (GNA) in Tripoli. They included team leader Steven Lodge, a pilot; and pilots Travis Maki of geosciences firm Bridgeporth, Ryan Ho- gan, and Matthew Coughlin; Andrew Furness was identified as the helicopter loadmaster in the mission; other PMCs were South Africans Sean Baker, a med- ic, Hendrik Bam, Christian Du Preez, Andre Greyvenstein, Gilliam and Jo- seph Joubert, Rudi Koekemo- er, Quintan Paul, Lucas Schutte and Abel Smit; Britons Michael Al- len, David Button, coxswains Sean Cal- laghan Louw and Andrew Scott Rit- chie, a former Royal Marines commando, and Australian Rich- ard Parish. In information seen by MaltaToday, the UAE companies Lancaster 6 and L-6 FZE supplied 'Pro- ject Opus' with three SA341 Gazelle hel- icopters and three AS332 Super-Puma helicopters – procured from South Africa – as well as the two Malta RHIBs. The helicopters were to be armed with 7.62mm medium machine guns and des- tined for Haftar's forces, which are sup- ported by the UAE, as well as Russian mercenaries and Egypt. In addition to these, plans were in the works for the procurement of an AH-1F Cobra attack helicopter – a deadly gun- ship normally armed with missiles, rock- ets and a three barrel 20mm autocannon. Investigators uncover roles of mercenaries in UAE-backed Libya helicopter gunship plan Left: one of the helicopters being transported through Botswana, and right, the Manta-2 RHIB found by Libyan coastguards Lancaster 6 owner Christian Durrant