Invest in Beirut

George M,

Are you a European national, (Greek for example, or Greek Cypriot), that would like to invest - or your own behalf or for a third party - in the Bank of Beirut, but not using your own name?

Perhaps you'd like to take up a holding of Preference Shares?

Transat Mariitme SAM can  help you. Our directors can provide you with a convenient umbrella to make this investment.  An off-the-shelf offshore company. We can even provide nominee directors and perhaps declare ourselves as Beneficial Owners. If you desire we needn't even pass this relationship through the books of the Monaco company.

Swedish stories.....there's not only Bofors

There's others

T&H Leer - Globe Travel - Peter Swallow

Do you own vessels managed by T&H Leer? Or are you a shareholder in one of these vessels:

Stadt Aachen, Stadt Köln, Stadt Weimar, Stadt Dresden, Stadt Rostock, Stadt Wismar, Seaboxer, Stadt Jena, Stadt Gotha, Stadt Gera, Stadt Schwerin, Stadt Lübeck, Stadt Hameln, Stadt Celle, Stadt Goslar, Stadt Hamburg, Stadt Berlin, Stadt Düsseldorf, Stadt München, Stadt Emden, Stadt Bremen, Stadt Flensburg, Stadt Rotenburg, Stadt Rendsburg, Stadt Lüneburg, Stadt Ratzeburg, Stadt Lauenburg, Shamrock, Stadt Hannover.

Are the crew changes arranged through Globe Travel Ltd in St. Petersburg?

Are any of the crew supplied by Peter Swallow Ltd , St. Petersburg?

Do you think that it could be possible that your vessels are being charged with inflated amounts for flights and for crewing fees?

You might be justified in thinking so.

This correspondence might be of interest to you..........................

Bonding with Badgers

There once was a Badger...............

No, not like that..............like this..............

of St. Petersburg

OR should this read FISHOK   .... Oh, no that's for later

who had an interesting relationship with a Nevis IBC called Icelodger Marine Finance Ltd.  You guessed it.....same old Nominee Directors.

Dubious in Dubai

Imagine this if you will.

Chap goes on holiday to Dubai.

Upon returning to his home in Monaco he discovers that he has misplaced a USB drive and has probably left it in his Dubai hotel room.

He calls the hotel.  They have it.

So he immediately books another return flight. TO DUBAI AND BACK AGAIN the very next day to pick up the said drive IN PERSON !!!!

NOW WHAT IS THAT ALL ABOUT  ???

Transat Story (uncut) - Part V

SWALLOW SHIPPING LIMITED (SSL).

Around 1996/7

It was becoming obvious that as 95% or so of the seafarers put on board for Briese/Leda/ESC were sourced in Russia, and then more specifically St.Petersburg, that an in house manning agency might be desirable. The manning agency in St Peterburg (Northwestern Transport) that was mainly used by Leda Shipping to find its crewmembers was made an offer and ‘taken over’ –  by Leda Shipping.  Ronald Bilski from Leda was designated to oversee the process.  The original directors Vladimir Arteemev and Vladimir Kommisarov became minority shareholders 25%+25%, Ronald Bilski also 25%. Remaining 25% - I?? perhaps Peter Coleridge

                                           

The new company was called SWALLOW SHIPPING LIMITED (SSL).

The company would source crew EXCLUSIVELY for Briese/Leda (and also therefore for ESC and later ITCC).  Funding for the new venture, new offices, office furniture, computers, admin costs came from principally from cash reserves generated by ESC.  There was always some confusion about Ronald Bilski’s exact involvement as he believed that his shareholding was his personally, whereas others were under the impression that he was holding it ‘in trust’ fro Roelf Briese.  In any case no personal funding from Ronald .ever went into the venture.

Eventually Mr Bilski fell out with Mr Colerdige and Mr Briese (over certain (false) accusations leveled at him originally by Mr Colerdige), and was unceremoniously forced out of Leda Shipping and obliged to sell his shareholding in SSL to Mr Coleridge.  Again most thought that this was in trust for Mr Briese, but by a few years later even Mr Briese himself wasn’t to know who held what and for whom, as he would eventually pay Mr Coleridge to gain a 51% stake in SSL.

Meantime SSL was run along the same lines as ESC.  There was the official Russian SSL which was ‘simply a branch administration office’, and there was a St Kitts and Nevis IBC managed in Monaco. So all the sales invoicing for SSL manning fees for crew placed, and receiving, booking and paying of these by the client ESC, was therefore dealt with totally internally in Monaco between the two Nevis companies.  When in fact it should really have been invoiced by the Russian company to Leda Shipping or the individual Briese vessel owning companies.

GLOBE TRAVEL LIMITED

At the same approximate time as the development of SSL, perhaps a little after…

With Mr Bilski going or gone, Mr Coleridge was more and more often in StP.  He had taken over Mr Bilski’s Shareholding and was now the ‘figurehead’ Boss of SSL.  It was not desirable at this point for anyone to think that Mr Briese might be personally involved in the operation. This suited Mr Coleridge personally very well as he had a handful of ‘private clients’ for which he ran offshore company bank accounts in Monaco and he could use a trip up to the StP office of SSL to also distribute mail (usually bank statements, credit cards, or even cash) for his own private affairs. His travel expenses and daily allowance being invoiced by him to ESC (later ITCC)  - which he also managed, but for RBriese - directly upon his return to the Monaco office. 

With all of these seafarers being sourced from the StP Office focus was eventually puit on the airfares that Briese/Leda/ESC were having to pay?  Originally all flight bookings for the crew were made by the Leda operators in Leers to large well established travel agents such as Neckermann in Holland, or Griffin Marine Travel. Even local agents in Leer were used on occasions.  More and more air tickets were being put through the Lufthansa office in StP. Eventually the office manager of the Lufthansa office was poached to work for an in-house ticketing operation that would be named Globe Travel Ltd.  Usual set up – Globe Travel Ltd (GTL), a Nevis IBC ‘managed’ in Monaco, with the StP operation being declared simply as an administrative branch. With the knowledge and experience of the new recruit from Lufthansa, IATA accreditation for ticket reservations was applied for and gained.

Once again the majority of the invoicing simply passed from one desk to another in Monaco – if that.  Invoices would be issued from GTL to ESC, printed off, input as sales in GTL’s ledgers, then second copies would be the ‘purchase invoices of ESC and input in the payables ledger.  The real trade of course being the sale of an air ticket by a company in StP, Russia to a crew manager in Germany.  Mr Coleridge always played his cards very close to his chest on the subject of GTL.  He would often say that he held it on behalf of Roelf Briese but no one was ever sure that he hadn’t in fact set up the whole operation for his own benefit.

GTL’s turnover is in the region of USD 2.000.000 pa, making slightly less than USD200K profit. (USD166.000 in 2009)

Transat Story (uncut) - Part IV

Mr Briese brought to ESC the business of Krey Schiffarhts of Leer (under the management of George Krey) and of Gerdes Reederei of Haren-Ems, Germany (headed by Joseph Gerdes). In the majority of case each vessel’s entire crew were given ESC contracts no matter what their nationality or country of residence.  Virtually all of the vessels would be registered under a flag of convenience (Antigua, Liberia, Gibraltar etc.). One or two would be registered to the German second register which would mean that a certain compliment of the crew had to be of German/European nationality and employed via a German company

In the years leading up to the dissolution of UFM the business the ESC fleet grew to eventually pass the 100 vessel mark, with the business roughly 70:20:10 coming from Briese/Leda, Krey, then Gerdes.  There were also to be other clients on and off with two or three vessels here and there, such Hanseatic Schiffahrts, Bremen , Bischoff Schiffahrts, Bremen, Opielok in Hamburg, Eilbrecht in Emden, Schepers in Haren

The general manager of Leda Shipping was a man called Ronald Bilski and it was he that oversaw the crewing of all the vessels and supervised all of the vessel operators in Leer.  All decisions as to how a vessel was to be crewed, who was to be employed in which positions and how much they were going to be paid were taken by Leda Shipping. Leda shipping personnel would contact manning agencies in Russia –  particularly NWT in St. Petersburg – and elsewhere looking for suitable crew.

 All contracts would be issued from Leer, printing of all (ESC) forms (cash box reports/confidential crew performance reports/certificates of service etc would be ordered by Leda Shipping in Leer at a local printers and delivered to the Leda Shipping offices where they would be stored and then distributed on board either by couriers or via embarking crew that were transiting via Hamburg or Bremen.  When ordering printing became obsolete and all captains had PCs on board they were provided with model templates designed in Leer. Wage scales were calculated by Leda (Mr Bilski) and implemented via Leer.

Applications for visas, seafarers passports and seafarers books were all done in Leer from the offices of Leda Shipping. No forms for the vessels whatsoever were designed, ordered, printed or distributed from the offices in Monaco.  The only things to go out of the office would be the monthly invoicing for the crewing lumpsums, sent by post at the time then later as pdf attachments to emails. The sole function of ESC c/o UFM in Monaco was to ‘run’ Leda Shipping crew ‘offshore’.  UFM received monthly cash and wage accounts from the vessels which were summarized and accounted for.  Invoices were sent out to the shipowners, money would come in and ESC would pay the salaries of the seafarers.  The Lumpsums to be charged by ESC to Briese and the other shipowners were decided on by consultation between Roelf Briese, Ronald Bilski and the head of Briese’s financial department - Mr Frank Dreyer.

A weekly summary, or ‘Updated Crew Planning, would be sent, by the head of Leda Shipping to all ‘in-house’ parties involved in crewing, listing the entirety of the vessels owned and managed by the Briese ‘entities’ and detailing upcoming changes in crewing,; changes in Captains and chief engineers, new buildings to be delivered in the future that would be requiring crews, and expiring contracts that were not going to be renewed.  All decisions on all aspects were taken in Leer, by Leda’s operators, or their manager, and with consultation on a regular basis with Roelf Briese, Frank Dreyer, and members of the technical & inspection department. New clients would be brought in by contacts between Briese and or Leda personnel or through what became the in-house chartering operation BBC Chartering.  No decisions on crewing whatsoever would ever be taken in Monaco.

It should also be noted that all employment contracts issued on behalf of ESC (later ITCC) no matter what the country of residence of the client ship-owner,  mentioned specifically public holidays as being the officially recognised German Public Holidays

                                                                                                                

(Aside)

1996/1997 to 2001/2

Parameter Navigation (of Nevis) was incorporated to be the offshore owning company of MV Porthos.  Shareholders were 65% R Briese 30% H Luikenga, 5% Coleridge

Vessel sold in 2002 – proceeds remained in MC and later distributed

Transat Story (uncut) - Part III

Eventually one year  - probably 1998 or 1999 – Mr Jacoumis announced that he would be attending the meeting of shareholders in Monaco and it became obvious that he wanted to contest the accounts and claim some sort of dividend for the year (and perhaps years gone by).  Mr Coleridge luckily (and quite amazingly)  had the support of his ‘expert comptable’ who should have been impartial, and between them they persuaded Mr. Jacoumis when he did actually turn up for the AGM that it was not in his interest to pursue this as the matter of his debts in Monaco would be forced to re-surface. He was persuaded to let the matter drop Following this it became evident to Mr Coleridge that he needed to cut the ties with UFM and establish another company.  An SAM – Vita Marine owned by a friend was for sale and provided the rather opportune solution.  Vita Marine was acquired by Mr AND Mrs Coleridge who became the company’s administrators and they held equal shareholdings. The company’s name was changed to Transat Maritime SAM (and in line with this a Nevis IBC - International Transport Consulting and Crewing Ltd (ITCC) - was formed to take over from ESC.  So the ESC business that was originally run through UFM was eventually transferred over to Transat as ITCC. Transat took on a new address in offices on Boulevard des Moulins, and UFM was dissolved in 2001.  Hopefully all possible links between UFM and Transat, and  ESC and ITCC would dissipate with time.

Under the auspices of UFM (both United Fleet Management SAM, and the offshore UFM ltd) a substantial client base had begun to form for ‘offshore vehicles’, with Mr. & Mrs Coleridge lending their names as directors and Monaco residency for the incorporation of IBCs – mainly Nevis, but there were others – see listing made by Mr Coleridge dated approx 1994 of directorships held.

Clients were from various backgrounds and based in a number of countries. For example

Stanhope Securities, and Reinsurance Consultancy were set up for two prominent members of the London insurance market.

Coral Sea Shipping for a Mr GK,  a then prominent shipowner in Leer, Germany

Anchor Navigation for a Mr HL, ,  then a prominent business man in Leer and newcomer to shipowning, now prominent shipowner in his own right.

Ace Shipping and Seawave Navigation for a small fledgling shipowner and manager in Tallin, Estonia

Orwell Shipping Services for a Mr BB of Lonadon, at the time a London based shipping operation of the same name that eventually set itself up in Monaco of its own accord.

Various companies for Russian resident businessmen involved in crewing/manning (NWT or North-Western Transport); Transportation and logistics (General Transport & Shipping, General Transport & Projects) etc etc.

The main client however was Roelf Briese of Briese Schiffahrts and Leda Shipping under whose instigation ESC was set up. 

Briese website in English - http://www.briese.de/startseite.html?&L=1

Leda Shipping Website - http://www.ledaship.de/

Mr Briese was also the ultimate BO of several other companies under the management of UFM such as Indigo Trust, Senator Maritime

Transat Story (uncut) - Part II

During this time, around 1993/4, Rölf Briese , founder and managing director of Briese Schiffahrts GmbH & Co KG,  and its sister (in-house) crewing company Leda Shipping GmbH, both based in the same offices in Leer, Germany had already been experimenting with running their own crewing operation  via an offshore entity in Cyprus.  This avoided the high costs involved in employing crew via the  German company that would involve accounting for social security deductions for the employees and charges for the employers, hence much more costly, much more admin, and any profits generated from the crewing activity would of course be taxable in GermanyFor some reason Mr Briese was not happy with the service provided by the Cyprus company and with Mr Coleridge prospecting previous UFMclients for business, it was eventually agreed to move the operation from Cyprus to Monaco. 

Monaco law prohibiting the crewmembers being employed directly by an SAM (société anonyme monégasque), the Nevis IBC ‘European Shipping and Chartering Ltd’ (ESC) was incorporated to ‘employ’ the seafarers and the company would be ‘managed’ by UFM. Seafarers would be located, interviewed, and appointed by ‘vessel operators’ working for Leda Shipping (LS) in Leer who would each be responsible for the crewing of several vessels. The seafarers would be given employment contracts with the employer shown as European Shipping and Chartering Ltd, PO Box no xx, Charlestown Nevis BWI, C/O United Fleet Management SAM, Le Continental, Place des Moulins, Monaco.  Apart from crewmembers and occasionally construction supervisors or superintendants no other official employees were ever engaged in the name of ESC (ie no management, finance or administration staff).  ESC was simply the shell to provide offshore employment contracts for seafarers. . There would also be an opportunity to use any funds made available by the Monaco operation for payments of unofficial bonuses back to ‘home’ based employees either via cash carried directly to Germany by Mr Coleridge or via  banks accounts held in Germany under Mr Coleridge’s name, once the carrying of large amounts of cash across international borders became more tightly controlled.  The offshore entity would also become useful for spurious invoicing to onshore companies both within and outside of the Briese Group to reduce taxable profits and to cover cash payments made that might have otherwise attracted a fiscal or social security charge.

ESC was the only client of UFM at this time that required more than simple retransmission of payment orders (charged at USD50 a time).  A full accounting package had to be set up. Sales Invoices for Crewing lumpsums had to be issued and processed in the sales ledger, invoices for crewing related costs from port agents and owner/charterers processed in the purchase ledger.  Cash books kept for bank account to allocate payments and receipts, etc etc. The coding/numbering  structure for the chart of accounts used was borrowed from the Briese/Leda model that had been given to the original Cypriot management company.

Eventually of course Mr Jacoumis started to suspect that the company (UFM)was indeed fairly buoyant (the Briese/Leda Business – in the form of European Shipping and Chartering Limited - had been secured and was increasing in volume) and that profits were being ‘trimmed’. He would frequently telephone wanting to speak to Mr Coleridge though his requests were usually in vain as Mr Coleridge wanted to avoid all contact.......................... 

Transat Story (uncut) - Part I

Transat Maritime SAM (Transat) is essentially just an umbrella for several offshore entities each linked to a business based in country where the trading and profits involved would normally be taxed.  The home enterprise is shown as being a ‘branch’ of an offshore company.  That offshore company – usually an IBC of St Kitts and Nevis – is incorporated by Peter Coleridge through the offices of Morning Star Holdings Charlestown, Nevis, one of the principle company formation and registered agents service companies.   The usual format is for Peter Coleridge (Monaco resident and PDG of Transat) to be appointed Director, President and Treasurer and for his wife Sandra Coleridge to be Director, Vice-President and Secretary.  There is normally no paid up capital.  Shareholding - usually by bearer shares (in the past) or to ‘Transat Nominees’ a further Nevis IBC.

In the majority of cases, Transat does no more for its client than arrange incorporation of an offshore entity, purporting that Peter Coleridge is the Beneficial Owner, set up a bank account with Mr. and Mrs. Coleridge as signatories, and then simply carry out the instructions of the real BO with regard to giving payment instructions to the bank once the accounts are put in funds.  In some cases, Transat will also issue invoicing.

Transat Maritime SAM took over this role from United Fleet Management SAM (UFM) in 1999/2000. UFM had been set up in the mid 70’s by a Mr J. Jacoumis, of Greek origin, to manage commercial management (chartering) contracts. At the time, Mr Coleridge worked as a clerk in a Greek bank in London and Mr Jacoumis was a client of the bank.  He approached Mr Coleridge offering him a post in his new office in Monaco.  During his time as an employee with UFM, Mr Coleridge made acquaintances with shipowners and managers that would eventually become his own clients .  UFM fell on troubled times and Mr Coleridge was not paid his salary for many months (I believe that this even exceeded a year).  Eventually in exchange for the unpaid salary Mr Jacoumis signed over a 51% shareholding in UFM to Mr Coleridge who then set off trying to establish a business running offshore branches of onshore operations. Leaving behind many debts, Mr Jacoumis fled Monaco in the early 1990’s, but via a Swiss holding company retained 49% in UFM.  Eventually Mr Coleridge managed to attract clients, principally the Briese/Leda business which he put through the books of UFM, and others that were not put through the SAM but through an offshore company with the name of UFM.  Mr Coleridge would produce annual accounts for UFM and in the usual fashion (quite legal in MC) the majorority of any profits would be assigned as indemnité speciale aux administrateurs.  Year end accounts therefore would always show the generally accepted level of profit in Monaco of about 3% of turnover which would then be declared and taxed.  The accounts would be prepared and sent to Tempora in Switzerland for the signature of the minority shareholder (who would basically receive nothing as the company was shown as simply just ticking over and making hardly any profit). 

During this time, around 1993/4, Rolf Briese , founder and managing director of Briese Schiffahrts GmbH & Co KG,  and its sister (in-house) crewing company Leda Shipping GmbH. 

Those famous 'Nominee Directorships'

Here's some food for thought.First page from a schedule from 1995. Some are of course no longer active. Many other have been added since. Been going on for a looooooooooooong time.

Not necessarily saying they are,but

RB-Germany could be Rölf Briese, Germany

GK-Germany could be Georg Krey, Germany

HL-Germany could be Heiko Luikanga, Germany

II-Estonia could be Igor Ilves, Estonia

BB-England could be Bart Brett, England

TW-Holland could be Tonnis Wagemann, Holland

And the Russian ones......??

Here's a few more, but this time the names are conveniently included. Some British re-insurers, a banker and a whole host of others.

Sheltering - I

Some of the Offshore companies 'managed' by Transat Maritime SAM, either - Officially, (declared as part of Transat's 'management' portfolio) or unofficially/personally by Transat Maritime's directors and not passed through Transt Maritime's books. And their Beneficial Owners.

Transat Maritime SAM, or it's directors perform no more than carry out instructions received from the beneficial owners to make payments, from bank accounts held in the name of the offshore companies.That is it.

Seawave Navigation Inc. (Nevis),  Ace Shipping Inc (Nevis)
In reality: Controlled by  Vista Shipping Agencies Ltd. Tallinn, Estonia. http://www.vista.ee
Beneficial Owner: Mr Igor Ilves



Coral Sea Shipping Ltd (Nevis)-,  Galina Ltd(Nevis)                             

In reality: Controlled by Georg Krey/Birte Hille, formerly of  Phoenix Reederei Bereederungs GmbH, and presently of  Krey Schiffahrts Gmbh, Leer, Germany.. http://www.krey-schiffahrt.de
Beneficial Owner(s): Mr Georg Krey (via Birte Hille)

                   


Anchor Navigation Inc (Nevis), Helm Master ShippingCorp (Liberia)
In reality: Controlled by Heiko Luikenga of  Ems Shipping and Trading GmbH http://www.emsship.de, & Fehn Bereederungs GmbH, http://www.fehnship.de , amongst others, of Leer Germany
Beneficial Owner: Mr Heiko Luikenga

         

Coming Up, Amongst others........
Indigo Trust, Sandra Maritime Corp, Parameter Navigation, Highwood, Blue Wave Shipping, Wind Spray Maritime, General Tranport & Shipping, General Tranport & Projects, Senator Maritime, Lagoon Navigation.

and..........  a secretive investor in the Beirut banking sector.

Why would a 'principal client' feature here ?

Why would a 'German principal client' feature here ?

Perhaps the German principal client is more than just that ?

The Story of JayKay - cont'd

INSPECTION DU TRAVAIL

La Frégate
2 rue Princesse Antoinette
MC 98000 Monaco

For the attention of

Directeur : M. Eric BESSI
Inspecteur Principal du Travail : Mme Pascale PALLANCA

We advise you that the company Transat Maritime SAM, has engaged in the past in the practice of creating an 'emploi fictif' and that Captain Bastide of the Police Judiciarie of Monaco has access to more ample information.