Italian shipowner Raffaele Brullo has been released from house arrest in a continuing probe into a fatal tanker collision last year.
The principal of Augusta Due was freed on 4 March by an appeals court in Palermo, a company statement said.
The decision revoked an arrest order by the investigating judge in the case over an incident involving a ship suspected to be Augusta Due's 11,300-dwt Vulcanello M (built 2006) and a fishing boat that killed the three men on the smaller vessel.
The collision occurred on 12 May not far from San Vito Lo Capo, Sicily.
"Mr Raffaele Brullo has kept on governing the company even during the most difficult moments of the enquiry still ongoing," Augusta Due said.
The master and third mate of the tanker were also arrested in February by the Italian coastguard after the Palermo prosecutor's office alleged their vessel was involved in the sinking of the fishing vessel Nuova Iside. It is unclear whether they remain under arrest.
The master was named by La Repubblica as Gioacchino Costagliola and his colleague as Giuseppe Caratozzolo.
Brullo and the two seafarers are being investigated for procedural fraud, but have proclaimed their innocence.
'Shocks' heard on VDR
The three seafarers killed were father and son Matteo and Vito Lo Iacono, and cousin Giuseppe Lo Iacono.
A government investigation has drawn on the tanker's voyage data recorder, on which four "shocks" are heard at the alleged time of impact.
Prosecutors allege the fishing boat was visible on the Vulcanello M's radar for at least 24 minutes, but no change of course was made.
Investigating magistrate Annalisa Tesoriere was quoted as saying the seafarers under investigation "have shown that they govern navigation in disregard of the elementary rules of prudence, to the point of endangering not only others but their own physical safety".
The tanker is alleged to have continued on its route after the collision.
Augusta Due is based in Rome and owns 22 tankers.
