Russian billionaire fugitive beaches 98-foot Azimut

Famed Russian billionaire Sergey Polonsky’s 98-foot Azimut has been beached on the island of Koh Tang in Cambodia for more than a week. Details are still emerging on exactly how the yacht ran aground, and with limited resources available on the island, it could be quite some time before she is back afloat.

Adding drama to the an already dramatic situation: Polonsky is a fugitive of the Russian government.

Prior to the financial crisis, Polonsky made the Forbes list of billionaires, with an estimated net worth of $1.2 billion. After being accused of embezzlement from investors in two residential developments in Moscow, he was issued a “red notice” by Interpol in 2013. He fled the country to his current residence in Cambodia—which has no extradition treaty with Russia.

Apparently, Polonsky is in no rush to expedite the proceedings as evidenced by his (shall we say entertaining?) social media feeds over the past several days, featuring statuses that seem quite content with his state of affairs in the current surroundings, such as this gem from a few days ago: “Starry sky above us. The feeling that we are stuck in another galaxy. The whole team has one question, where do they sell tickets to the movie. Now waiting for high tide. Beautiful.”

On the plus side, the dockspace is free (for now at least) and you can’t beat the view.

Expats in Cambodia following the rescue mission’s developments note that the task of refloating the Azi is far from a simple one. The boat weights approximately 100 tons and sparsely inhabited Koh Tang seems to have neither the machinery nor the know-how to address the task.

Popcorn anyone?