Seattle Charges Shipping Companies for Dumping Oily Waste
Image Courtesy: LeiplawTwo shipping companies and two engineers have been indicted by a Seattle jury for crimes related to the illegal discharge of oily wastewater from the M/V Gallia Graeca cargo ship, the U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes said.
The ship’s operator, Panama-based company Angelakos (Hellas) S.A., its owner, Gallia Graeca Shipping, Ltd from Cyprus and engineers Konstantinos Chrysoveragis and Tryfon Angelou are scheduled to be arraigned on the indictment on March 24, 2016.
According to the indictment, during the M/V Gallia Graeca voyage from China to Seattle in October 2015, the ship discharged more than 5,000 gallons of contaminated water into the sea as its oil water separator was inoperable. The indictment alleges that the defendants concealed these incidents from the Coast Guard by making false statements to inspectors, and making false statements and omissions in the ship’s record book.
The two engineers and the two companies operating the ship are charged with three county of convictions, each punishable by a USD 500,000 fine. These relate to falsification of records in a federal investigation, which is punishable by up to 20 years in prison, concealment of material information from the United States, punishable by up to 10 years of prison, and with violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships, punishable by up to five years of imprisonment.
The case is being investigated by the U.S. Coast Guard and the Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division.
