US Department of Justice announced that a federal jury in Charleston, South Carolina, convicted two chief engineers of the vessel, T/V Green Sky, of falsifying documents in order to conceal illegal discharges of oily bilge waste and obstruction charges.
Herbert Julian, who served as chief engineer of the vessel from Aug. 3 to Sept. 4, 2015, was convicted of two felony counts under the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS) and for obstruction of justice. Panagiotis Koutoukakis, chief engineer from Feb. 1 to Aug. 3, 2015, was convicted of two felony counts, one for APPS and another for falsifying records.
The Green Sky is a large, oceangoing chemical tanker flagged in Liberia and consists a type of vessel that generates large quantities of oil-contaminated waste water, comparing to a normal ship of its age and construction. Oily bilge waste must be removed from the vessel lest it fill up the bottom of the Engine Room and cause damage to equipment and jeopardize the safe handling of the ship. However, the law does not permit an oceangoing vessel to discharge these oily wastes directly into the sea.
The evidence presented to the jury showed that the Green Sky was regularly pumping contaminated and oily water directly overboard, but the evidence presented, during the fifteen-day trial, demonstrated that the chief engineers falsified the oil record book to hide their illegal discharges. The vessel arrived in Charleston, South Carolina on August 26, 2015, when the false record was presented to the U.S. Coast Guard during an inspection of the vessel. The U.S. Coast Guard was tipped off by three whistleblowers who came forward to report the crimes and ask for protection from U.S. authorities.
“We are extremely proud of our team of marine safety professionals and the Coast Guard Investigative Service which were an integral part of investigating these occurrences and referring them for enforcement action” said Captain Gary L. Tomasulo, Commander, USCG Sector Charleston.
By January 2016, Koutoukakis was subsequently indicted after further investigation revealed his substantial involvement in illegal discharges and records falsification. In addition, Julian was convicted of obstruction related to false statements that he made regarding the ship’s sounding log, which is a document that can be used to check the veracity of the oil record book. Testimony at trial revealed that Julian hid the log prior to the Green Sky’s arrival in Charleston and then lied to the Coast Guard about the vessel having a sounding log.
Before the trial, the Green Sky’s operator, Aegean Shipping Management, S.A. pleaded guilty to one APPS count for the illegal discharges and one obstruction count based on misrepresentations made by the vessel’s captain to the U.S. Coast Guard during the August 2015 boarding. The unsealed documents revealed that the operating company agreed to pay a financial penalty of $2 million and will also be sentenced to probation and an environmental compliance plan. At trial, the second engineer Nikolaos Bounovas was acquitted of all charges against him. The sentencing of the previously convicted Captain, Genaro Anciano, has yet to be scheduled.
This case was investigated by the USCG Sector Charleston and the Coast Guard Investigative Service. The USCG Marine Safety Lab was critical to the analysis of oil samples taken from the vessel.
Source & Image credit: US Department of Justice
