Chief Engineer Sentenced
Carmelo Oria, a Spanish citizen who was the chief engineer on the Cyprus-flagged M/T Nautilus, was sentenced on May 6th in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts for maintaining inaccurate records that concealed a discharge of oil-contaminated water from the bilges of the M/T Nautilus, the Justice Department announced. Oria was sentenced to one month in prison, to be followed by supervised release for a term of two years and a $3,000 fine. Oria pleaded guilty on March 9, 2009, to violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships based on his role in discharging oil-contaminated bilge water directly into the ocean from the M/T Nautilus and then failing to record the discharge in the ship's records. The government's investigation began in March 2008, when inspectors from the U.S.
Guilty Plea on Concealing Vessel Pollution
Consultores De Navegacion, a Spanish company that operates the M/T Nautilus, an ocean-going chemical tanker ship, pleaded guilty on April 6 in U.S. District Court in Boston and has agreed to pay a fine of $2.5m for criminal violations related to the overboard discharge of oil-contaminated bilge waste on the high seas, the Justice Department announced. The company pleaded guilty to conspiracy, falsification of records, false statements, obstruction, and two violations of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships for failing to maintain an accurate oil record book. The practice of improperly handling and disposing of oil-contaminated waste from the tanker as charged in the indictment took place from at least June 2007 until March 2008.
