The case against a Maersk container ship captain for allegedly dragging anchor through Vocus’ Australia-Singapore Cable in August 2021 has been discontinued.
The Maersk Surabaya was allegedly anchored adjacent to the Perth protection zone for submarine cables when high winds allegedly caused it to drift through the zone, damaging the Vocus cable in about 20m of water.
The total damage bill came to about $1.5 million, though a nearby cable repair ship meant that the cable was repaired faster than usual.
Causing damage inside of a cable protection zone is a federal offence that can carry fines and jail time.
iTnews had tracked the case through the Melbourne Magistrates Court until the case file number disappeared.
An Australian Federal Police spokesperson told iTnews that prosecutors had elected to “discontinue” the case.
“The CDPP [Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions] discontinued the prosecution after having applied the Prosecution Policy of the Commonwealth,” the spokesperson said, without elaborating.
The policy “underpins all of the decisions made by the CDPP throughout the prosecution process and promotes consistency in decision making”, according to government documentation.
A CDPP spokesperson told iTnews the case was discontinued on December 9 last year. They declined to comment further.
A Vocus spokesperson told iTnews that “the decision to pursue any charges” resulting from the incident was “entirely a matter” for the relevant authorities.
The spokesperson added that “Vocus is strongly pursuing the recovery of costs incurred as a result of the cut.”
