$2.6 Million to Benefit New Jersey and Delaware Coasts Hit by Hurricane Sandy
According to the US Department of Justice, two shipping firms based in Germany and Cyprus were sentenced in federal court in Newark, N.J., to pay a $10.4 million penalty for felony obstruction of justice charges and violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships related to the deliberate concealment of vessel pollution from four ships that visited ports in New Jersey, Delaware and Northern California
Columbia Shipmanagement (Deutschland) GmbH (CSM-D), a German corporation, and Columbia Shipmanagement Ltd. (CSM-CY), a Cypriot company, were sentenced to pay a $10.4 million criminal penalty, $2.6 million of which will be directed to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to fund community service projects selected to help restore the coastal environment of New Jersey and Delaware hit by Hurricane Sandy. The remaining $7.8 million is designated as a criminal fine. In addition, the companies were placed on four years of probation.
During probation, the companies will be subject to the terms of an environmental compliance plan that requires outside audits by an independent company and oversight by a court appointed monitor.
The shipping firms admitted that four of their ships – three oil tankers and one container ship – had intentionally bypassed required pollution prevention equipment and falsified the oil record book, a required log regularly inspected by the U.S. Coast Guard. The case is the largest vessel pollution settlement in either New Jersey or Delaware.
The companies previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton on March 21, 2013, to six counts involving three vessels in New Jersey and four counts involving one ship in Delaware.
The counts consist of violations of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships for failing to maintain an accurate oil record book, obstruction of justice and making false statements.
Learn more about the case at US Department of Justice athttp://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2013/July/13-enrd-832.html
