The eighth sitting of the Erika trial in Paris last week heard about Malta’s certification process.

At the beginning of the sitting, the two French lawyers who are appearing on behalf of the ship’s Indian captain, Krun Mathur, argued against their client appearing in Paris. There is no Hindi translation, they objected, nor is it clear that the captain may be extradited from India in virtue of the treaties binding the two countries.

The court, having pointed out the captain has two French lawyers representing him and that Hindi translation is in fact possible, decided to shelve the matter until the final judgement.

The court then passed on to examine the RINA certification. It heard that on 12 and 13 August 1999, following an incident on board the ship Zagara, another ship leased by Panship, Malta demanded an audit of Panship.

RINA found, and informed the Maltese authorities accordingly, multiple cases of non-conformity regarding such issues as personnel and a lack of proper documentation. Because of this, RINA suggested to the Maltese authorities that it withdraw the DOC certification from Panship if these faults were not corrected.

A new audit took place on 6 September 1999 at Taranto, Italy, and Panship affirmed through fax that it had made all the required corrections.

The court then heard further explanations about such inspections and that “non-conformity” can be simple or grave. Only in the case of a grave non-conformity are immediate repairs required.

An inspection on board took place in September 1999 and the report notes the evidence of corrosion and bad condition that was found, but this, according to the lawyer defending RINA, was very limited in extent and not at all grave.

The case continues.