Two Greek shipping companies pleaded guilty to the illegal transport and discharge of oily waste into the sea near U.S. ports, according to U.S. Department of Justice officials.
Avin International Ltd. and Kriti Ruby Special Maritime Enterprises pleaded guilty to the 2022 polluting incidents. They were ordered to pay $3.3 million and a one million community service payment to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Justice officials said. Both companies were also sentenced to serve five-year terms of probation.
The pollution came from the tanker Kriti Ruby, an ocean-going tanker registered in Greece. The charges, according to a statement released by the U.S. Department of Justice arose out of two United States port calls in Jacksonville, Florida and the port of Newark, New Jersey, in which crew members of the tanker presented false records to the U.S. Coast Guard to conceal illegal transfers and discharges of oily bilge water from the vessel.
“Prioritizing profits over the environment by discharging oily waste into the sea and working to cover up that pollution is illegal,” said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “We are committed to enforcing the law and fighting against maritime pollution.”
The Kriti Ruby’s former Greek chief engineer, Konstantinos Atsalis was also sentenced to time served and a $5,000 fine after previously pleading guilty to charges related to the discharge of oily waste into the sea. Second engineer Sonny Bosito was sentenced totime served for concealing pollution by falsifying documents.
What the U.S. Department of Justice says about the sea polluting incidents by the Greek shipping companies
According to court documents and statements made in court, the two Greek shipping companies violated the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships, falsifying records and obstruction of justice.
On multiple occasions between May and September 2022, crew members discharged “oily waste into the sea via the ship’s sewage system, bypassing required pollution prevention equipment. They did not, as required, record these discharges in the vessel’s oil record book. To make it difficult for the U.S. Coast Guard to discover, crew members concealed most of the pumps and hoses used to conduct the bypass operations in a sealed void space called ‘cofferdam.'”
The U.S. Department of Justice‘s statement, further adds that as part of his guilty plea, “Atsalis admitted to falsifying the vessel’s oil record book and he acknowledged that the vessel’s crew had knowingly bypassed required pollution prevention equipment.” Additionally, he admitted that he directed crew members to hide equipment used to conduct these transfers.
“Maritime pollution is extremely harmful to the environment, and so difficult to detect, especially when the polluters take elaborate steps to falsify records to conceal their crimes,” said U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger for the District of New Jersey.
The Kriti Ruby tanker is owned by Avin International and operated by Kriti Ruby Special Maritime Enterprises.
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