The US Office of Foreign Assets Control (Ofac) has removed sanctions imposed against Lebanese shipowner Merhi Abou Merhi and his shipping group, Abou Merhi Lines (AML), which operates in the car carrier trades, and the cruise market as Abou Merhi Cruises (AMC).

AML and its owner were sanctioned in late 2015 when they were deemed by Ofac to be specially designated narcotics traffickers in accordance with the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act.

Abou Merhi was alleged to have ties to a maritime network linked to Lebanese-Colombian drug trafficker and money launderer Ayman Saied Joumaa, and the Joumaa criminal organisation, which Ofac claims has ties to Hezbollah.

These allegations were fiercely refuted by Abou Merhi, who immediately put together a legal defence team consisting of Erich Ferrari of Ferrari & Associates, Robert Teig of Teig Law Corp and Charles Larson of LS2 Group, in a bid to have the allegations dismissed.

In February 2016, the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia confirmed after further investigation that no wrongdoing on the part of Abou Merhi could be found, nor were there any discernible links between the owner, his shipping company and any criminal network.

However, it would take more than a year for the US Department of the Treasury, which Ofac is a part of, to make a final determination that there was no basis upon which to target Abou Merhi and AML for sanctions.

The sanctions took a tough toll on Abou Merhi’s shipping businesses. AML, which prior to being sanctioned operated a fleet of seven ro-ro vessels and pure car carriers on services from Europe to West Africa and the Mediterranean, and that ground to a halt. Unable to trade, most of the ships were sold or scrapped, leaving AML with only the 4,500-car-equivalent-unit (ceu) City of Antwerp (built 1988) under its ownership today. That vessel has been idle in Antwerp, Belgium, for some time.

AMC’s 7,500-gt cruiseship Orient Queen II (built 1989) was transferred to an entity called Med Queen Cruises last August and renamed Med Queen, although the vessel appears to be returning to the AMC fold this year and will operate a summer season of cruises out of Beirut.

AML, in a written statement to TradeWinds, said the company’s main objective for the remainder of this year and the coming year was to set its business back on track.

“The firm would like to thank everyone for believing [or not believing] in the innocence as both made the firm stronger in its journey of justice and battle against wrongful reports,” it said.

AML highlighted that its removal from Ofac’s sanctions list was based on the information it shared and not on any agreement or penalty.

“AML, along with its team of lawyers in the US, have successfully demonstrated to the US Department of Justice and US Treasury that the documents, information and any statements they had received were not credible and not sufficient to bring or maintain any actions or designations against us,” the company said.

“It has also been highlighted to AML the reason why this designation has taken place. Therefore, the company will waste no time in seeking justice in return for damages it has faced both financially and reputational."

The company intends to file damage suits in the near future against parties it believes caused it to have been erroneously sanctioned.