The Ocean Breeze comes in a modest 34th in the league table of super-yachts. For the paranoid billionaire, however, this 82-meter vessel offers some must-have features: storage space for surface-to-air missiles, bulletproof glass and, in case things get too hot, a secret passage leading to a mini-submarine escape pod.
Moored at Nice since 2003, the yacht was put up for sale for £17m by the UK brokers Burgess London in December. But the sale is now frozen under French law while the true owners are established. The chief contender is the government of Iraq.
The vessel was one of Saddam Hussein’s little secrets. Built by Danish shipbuilders in 1981 at the start of the first Iraq-Iran war, the floating palace, with a hospital and a helicopter pad, was decorated with gold, silver, fine mahogany and marble. It was, said the builders, "lavish in every detail and very Arabic in style".
Originally called Qadissiyat Saddam, after a battle won by the Arabs over the Persians, it never made it to Iraq. For 10 years it was moored in Saudi waters with 35 crew on permanent standby. For reasons not entirely clear, but possibly linked to the invasion of Kuwait, it was taken over by the Saudi royal family and renamed al-Yamamah. Last spring the Saudis offered it to King Abdullah II of Jordan.
Iraqi authorities said the yacht should be handed over. "We believe the yacht belongs to the government of Iraq, and we have the documents to prove that the government ordered the yacht to be built," Ardavan Amir Aslani, a lawyer for the government, told France Info radio.
The sale is still going ahead, Burgess’s marketing director said yesterday. "There is this disputed question of ownership, this is nothing new. We’ve referred everything back to the owners," said Alev Karagulle, who refused to name the owners.
This is the latest effort to seize assets of Saddam and his regime in France, including two villas near Cannes. After the 2003 war more than $5bn of Saddam’s assets were seized worldwide.
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