Greek Tanker Engineer Found Guilty of Pollution Cover-up in Charleston Federal Court
The chief engineer of a chemical tanker that docked in North Charleston in 2015 has been found guilty in a jury trial of falsifying the ship’s oil record book to cover up illegal pollution discharges.
What happened?
Panagiotis Koutoukakis, a Greek national, faces up to 25 years in prison for two felony charges. Herbert Julian, who succeeded Koutoukakis as the ship’s chief engineer, was found guilty of an obstruction charge that carries a maximum sentence of five years.
The jury’s verdict on Wednesday followed a three-week trial in federal court in Charleston. Sentencing for both men will be scheduled after the federal government prepares a pre-sentencing report, probably in the next two or three months.
Violated law:
According to court documents, Koutoukakis was chief engineer on the Greek tanker Green Sky at the time the pollution violations occurred. Prosecutors said Koutoukakis ordered crew members to bypass the ship’s oil and water separator and discharge oily waste overboard six times from May 2015 through July 2015. He then failed to record the discharges as required by law in the ship’s oil record book.
Usage of “magic pipe”:
An investigation by the U.S. Coast Guard started in August 2015 when the Green Sky docked at the Port of Charleston’s container terminal in North Charleston. Court records show crew members told the Coast Guard at that time that bilge waste was being discharged illegally. Those crew members said they had been instructed to use a “magic pipe” — a yellow hose that hooked into various pipes to allow a bypass of the ship’s oil and water separator.
Genaro Anciano, the ship’s captain, previously pleaded guilty in Charleston to one felony charge of obstructing a Coast Guard investigation. Documents, in that case, show thousands of gallons of bilge wastes contaminated with petroleum products and oil might have been dumped into the ocean. Anciano has not yet been sentenced.
Request denied:
The Koutoukais case drew attention last year when a federal judge denied his request to travel to Greece while awaiting trial. Koutoukakis, who has not been allowed to leave South Carolina since being detained in January 2016, claimed he could not find work because he does not speak English and was forced into homelessness by federal prosecutors. He also said he needed to return to Greece to take care of his sick wife.
Prosecutors opposed the request because Greece has weak extradition laws and there was no guarantee Koutoukakis would show up for trial. Koutoukakis has relied on local charities for his housing, food and other expenses since charges were filed in July.
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Source: Post and Courier
