ATHENS – Greek police, who reportedly didn’t even question rich Kazakhs over a fire on the island of Hydra tied to a super yacht they had chartered, now have charged eight of the 17 on board with complicity in arson. Two minors among them weren’t charged.

No names were given although a prominent businessman,  Daniyar Abulgazin, denied there was any wrongdoing over the fire in which mystery and confusion still surround what happened after it was said the blaze was started by fireworks.

It wasn’t clear whether they were fired from the yacht or on shore after other reports that a rubber dinghy was seen leaving the island and heading for the yacht, Persefoni I, after the blaze destroyed a pine forest on the island during the height of fire season.

The 17 Kazakhs on board weren’t detained nor questioned and some were said to be linked to a corrupt former President in their country and the state oil company that is the second biggest supplier of the commodity for Greece.

Greek police also initially said it wasn’t their responsibility to question the rich Kazakhs who got off the yacht when it docked on Athens’ southern coast and were allowed to leave the country before the eight were charged.

Now Greek police are seeking help from authorities in Kazakhstan to question the suspects after letting them walk, which brought a barrage of criticism and led to reports on the incident from investigative journalism outlets Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and Inside Story.

The Captain and First Officer were charged and put in pre-trial detention but other crew members initially detained were released on bail. Prosecutors in Greece said they uncovered evidence after a forensic investigator and reports that firefighters had found remnants of fireworks in the cover where it was believed the fire started.

The Piraeus Public Prosecutor’s Office is looking into firefighting and port authority officials’ handling of the case to find out why the suspects were let go although it wasn’t said if the police would be probed as well.

The blaze burnt through 300 acres of the only pine forest on the tourist island, which lies south of Athens but Abulgazin said neither he nor any of the others, some now accused of arson complicity, started the blaze but didn’t explain how it began then.

“It came as a complete surprise to us to learn of the accusations that followed in the press upon our return, and I categorically deny any wrongdoing,” he said in a statement published in the online edition of Forbes Kazakhstan that features stories on the rich.

“Neither I nor my guests did anything that could have led to the fire. We strictly followed the fire safety rules established on the yacht. Neither I nor my guests asked the yacht’s crew or other third parties to take any actions that could have led to a fire,” he added and expressed his “deepest regrets” for the blaze.

Abulgazin said he rented the Persephone I yacht from noon on June 15, to noon on June 22, to organize a cruise for himself and his guests around the islands of Greece. The yacht’s website a week costs 249,000 euros ($267,633.)

He said Greek authorities spoke with him and his guests before their departure from Greece, which was originally scheduled for June 22, but did not did not make any accusations against him and they were allowed to leave.

He said that he will cooperate with the Greek authorities in the investigation but it wasn’t said if he or those charged would return to Greece to be questioned. The investigative news sites said the ship’s manifest showed that Abulgazin’s son and his wife, Aidan Suleimenova, who heads one of Kazakhstan’s biggest charities, were also on board, along with her deputy.

Other guests included Umut Shayakhmetova, CEO of Kazakhstan’s largest financial institution, Halyk Bank, her husband, Beimbet Shayakhmetov, a former top manager of the national oil company, KMG International NV, and their daughter.