THE world's largest yacht has been impounded off the coast of Gibraltar over a €15.3 million debt, according to the Rock's Supreme Court.
German Naval Yards, based in Kiel, Germany, built the Sailing Yacht A – which carries a Bermuda flag – and is owed this amount of money by the proprietor, the company Valla Yachts Limited, based on the Caribbean island.
Valla Yachts Limited is owned by Russian billionaire Andrei Melnichenko.
When his firm did not pay up, German Naval Yards put the case in the hands of a solicitors' firm in Gibraltar, where the craft was moored, and the case is due to be heard in the Supreme Court of the British-owned enclave which borders onto the Spanish town of La Línea de la Concepción (Cádiz province).
Sailing Yacht A is almost 143 metres (nearly 465 feet) long and 25 metres (over 81 feet) wide, making it the biggest in the world.
