A federal grand jury charged Evridiki Navigation, Liquimar Tankers Management Services and a ship’s chief engineer for attempting to hide oily bilge discharge.
A federal grand jury in Wilmington, Del., on Thursday released a four-count indictment charging Evridiki Navigation Inc., Liquimar Tankers Management Services Inc. and chief engineer Nikolaos Vastardis with failing to keep accurate pollution control records, falsifying records and obstructing justice, the Justice Department said.
The charges were traced to a March 11 incident involving the Nigerian-flagged tanker Evridiki, which reportedly illegally discharged oily bilge into the ocean.
Coast Guard inspectors in the Port of Wilmington noted that Vastardis failed to document the discharge in the ship’s oil record book and made false statements in order to cover up the incident.
The illicit oily bilge discharge violates the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships, a U.S. law that implements the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL).
