Back in the day when I lived in Saigon, I remember a minister in charge of electricity being given a death sentence for trousering a bunch of money, $400 million if memory serves. I said to my interpreter/driver that it seemed a bit harsh and that the minister was a bit of an idiot to think he could get away with it (the project was a North/South cable and very high profile and he nicked the cable). My man said to me well yes it might seem a tad tough on him but just think how rich his family was going to be for generations. |
yump, yes that may be a factor. I hear she has had the death sentence imposed but has been offered a more lenient sentence if she repays a significant amount of the money stolen. Would you willingly die rather than hand over money, specially if you have plenty?
"The decision is a reflection of the dizzying scale of the fraud. Truong My Lan was convicted of taking out $44bn (£35bn) in loans from the Saigon Commercial Bank. The verdict requires her to return $27bn, a sum prosecutors said may never be recovered. Some believe the death penalty is the court's way of trying to encourage her to return some of the missing billions" |
I seem to remember the Gallery featuring a smiling Mr T taking a photo opportunity with some high ranking official - in Vietnam - years ago.
So they'll be well aware of SRT, if they can recall. |
Vietnam maybe not a customer quite yet until they get the 44bln back from that fraud. |
Vietnam places tremendous importance on maritime security for several reasons. First, the country is involved in territorial disputes over the Paracel and Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. Protecting its sovereignty and asserting its sovereign rights over these contested areas are the top priorities in Vietnam’s maritime strategy. Second, Vietnam’s export-oriented economy relies on the safety and freedom of navigation in its waters and the wider maritime region. Third, Vietnam depends on maritime resources for many economic activities, such as fishing, aquaculture, and offshore oil and gas exploration. Safeguarding these interests is therefore essential to Vietnam’s economic wellbeing. Lastly, protecting marine biodiversity and coastal habitats is crucial for Vietnam’s sustainable development. |
Marcos Biden and the Japanese PM also. |
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III meet with high-ranking officials from the Philippines at the State Department in Washington. Representing the Philippines are Officer in Charge of the National Defense Carlito Galvez Jr. and Secretary of Foreign Affairs Enrique A. Manalo. |
 $23 billion at a guess?
I don't think the EU has been or will be happy with what has gone on. Now of course the EU has no business interfering with social policy in the sense of little fishermen versus big boats, so if they change or re-interpret the constitution to legalize the encroachment of the large boats in municipal waters then it is no longer IUU. However, they could easily object to the lack of policing of the methods used by these boats from what the article (and the follow-on one) says. So a red card might still be on the horizon.
Even if this is resolved soon, I can't see any near term expansion of the IMEMS project. So it really is the PCG and security side of things that will be the main driver in the Philippines and there seems to be movement on that front. But I expect that to be piecemeal by geo-political importance and requiring fishing boats of whatever size to be fitted with transponders only in those zones. I really don't foresee a micro-managed programme covering all fishing boats emerging in the next decade, despite the comments in the City AM article, and the number of boats and unfortunately fish will be much less than forecast. |
Thank you LaValmy. Very interesting, but not in the least surprising. Fishing is big money. |
Of great relevance: |
Ok-no money and plenty corruption
No wonder it’s taking a while to get the govt guarantees in place! |
Nigeria has vast oil wealth and a lot of theft by people drilling into pipelines.However,remote locations and lack of law and order present severe challenges.Kenya and Tanzania are gateways to African trade and are relatively wealthy. I suspect that the US navy is promoting the need for systems in order to counteract China influence. If these contracts come to fruition they will not be small. i am hoping for news about Vietnam which exports large amounts of fish and will know all about the BFAR system. |
Why is it always countries with no money! |
New financial year. Options for 'Bed and ISA' |
“We are in discussions with Kenya and Tanzania. We had an inquiry from Nigeria recently, because they’ve got this huge oil theft issue. Bangladesh, the other day, India this morning.” |
billbyrne - nice find |
City AM article
hxxps://www.cityam.com/meet-the-maritime-surveillance-chief-tackling-pirates-smugglers-and-red-sea-ship-attacks-from-sleepy-bath/ |
Well I suppose you can't blame ExactEarth for using it, but it is very lazy for the fisheries people to claim that it is their estimate.
I think that SRT buys and will buy satellite data from whomever is competitive on quality and price. And ExactEarth have a good product (or had, given the rate of obsolescence and new entrants). SRT buys by geography, so all the transmissions received from a particular area. But the seller doesn't know anything about the encrypted ones, even basic information about the number of vessels transmitting. All they can decypher is a start flag, i.e. that there is an AIS transmission, but not the content. Given that Class A transponders transmit every 2-10 seconds and SRT's encrypted Class B's at whatever rate they decide works for their customer, the satellite provider simply does not know what they are selling to SRT nor what the value might be. Start flags are identical so the number of unique vessels is unknowable by the provider. They also miss many of the Class A signals but get corrupted parts of them which further confuses the picture. |
Does SRT still have any ongoing relationship with ExactEarth? |
Is this where the $23 billion originated from, or is it sheer coincidence? |
It sounds a bit hyped to me. Passenger vessels and cargo vessels will normally be transmitting, execpt maybe oil smugglers. And the different coloured triangles on the AIS identify which sort is which. No need for intelligence, artificial or otherwise.
Where SRT comes in is the provision of encrypted AIS which these systems cannot access. And they are fusing all sorts of data streams precisely to identify bad actors, fishing or otherwise.
As to regurgitating ad nauseam, this $23 billion keeps getting repeated even though the back of the envelope it was on is now lost. I don't know whether it is at all accurate and no-one seems to question it. At one point when Susi was in charge of fishing in Indonesia she was claiming that they alone were losing $23 billion - she must have got muddled, but the dammed number just keeps cropping up regardless of whether it is based on anything reasonable. |
or perhaps SRT could buy the satellite data to expand their surveillance. Low power ATONs with solar panels might enable the sound detection AI to work. No doubt SRT will be aware of opportunities. |
Looks as though new system described in BBC article could make part for the SRT offerings redundant - |
Register to chat with like-minded investors on our interactive forums.
Hot Features
Premium
