Following the return of the ship and crew, Cambodia will take action against the perpetrators of oil theft.

After securing the return of a tanker and the crew that allegedly carried it away, the Cambodian government will pursue legal action against individuals involved for the theft of millions of dollars in oil.

This comes after the Indonesian navy announced on Wednesday that it had apprehended the Bahamian-flagged tanker MT Strovolos, which Cambodia claims is carrying nearly 300,000 barrels of crude worth $21 million stolen from Singapore-based KrisEnergy, which had been granted oil drilling rights in the Kingdom.

Phay Siphan, a government spokeswoman, emphasized yesterday that the tanker was arrested because it entered Indonesian seas without permission, not because of a complaint from Cambodia.

“Because the ship entered their land illegally, it was confiscated. “We (Cambodia) were completely unaware of their detention,” he claimed.

He went on to say that the Cambodian government had pleaded with Indonesian officials to help secure the tanker's return.

On July 30, Cambodia's Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Ministry of International Cooperation filed a formal complaint with Interpol regarding an oil company's theft of 300,000 barrels from the Gulf of Cambodia.

When the Indonesian authorities release the detained vessel and crew, a spokesman for the Ministry of Justice, Kim Santepheap, stated on Friday that the two ministries, as well as International Cooperation, will take legal action.

He noted that the ministries will request legal cooperation and extradition (Cambodia-Indonesia) through the ASEAN Agreement on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters.

Cambodia would also request Indonesia's cooperation in handing over all evidence and the vessel for legal action and trial under Cambodian law, according to Santepheap.

Although Indonesia has yet to extradite the culprits and hand over the vessel, Santepheap stated that the two governments will employ international treaties, transnational crime, and the Asean agreement as legal processes in this matter.

He went on to say that smugglers of crude oil from Cambodia to Indonesia will face charges under Cambodia's special law on "administration, use, and disposal of state property" as well as "violation of state public property."

Cambodia "wants our oil back in our country," said Koy Kuong, a spokeswoman for the Foreign Affairs Ministry, to the Khmer Times yesterday.

KrisEnergy announced in June that business was entering liquidation and that exploration in Cambodia had been ceased.

Two months after Cambodia's first oil venture failed, attention has shifted to the fate of millions of dollars in oil pumped from the country's offshore concession before production was suspended, with the focus now on the ship captured by Indonesia.

The MT Strovolos, its captain, and 19 crew members were apprehended by a patrol boat off the coast of Indonesia's Riau on July 27, according to the navy.

According to the navy, the tanker was anchored in Indonesian seas "illegally" with its transponders switched off and loaded with 297,686 barrels of petroleum. The tanker was also brought to a neighboring base, and everyone on board was imprisoned, including the Bangladeshi captain and crew — 13 Indians, three other Bangladeshis, and three Myanmar citizens, according to the report.

World Tankers Management, the ship's Singapore-based operator, said in a statement late Wednesday that the oil was carried illegally and that the ship did not have authority to anchor in Indonesian waters.

Cambodia's "wrongful claims" have resulted in "humanitarian concerns," according to the firm, which has requested the intervention of the UN Human Rights Office and "diplomatic channels."

“Our team is completely blameless and innocent in this affair, and they should not be forced to bear the brunt of commercial and political issues,” the statement read.

The company denied all allegations made by both the Indonesian and Cambodian governments that it was involved in oil smuggling, while also expressing concern for its crew after the Cambodian government requested that Interpol issue a red notice for their arrest in order to extradite them back to Cambodia.

In a statement, World Tankers stated it loaded the crude on the premise that it belonged to its charterers, but that they had defaulted on payment and that its service had been cancelled.

The company stated it had requested that the oil be removed by a ship-to-ship transfer at a "suitable and reasonable location" from "the proprietors of the cargo."

However, “no agreement has been reached to allow this to happen,” according to the statement.