AmericasEnvironmentEuropeOperationsTankers

Aegean and three engineers indicted over alleged pollution conspiracy

Two subsidiaries of Greece’s Aegean Group on Friday were indicted in Charleston, South Carolina, on pollution conspiracy and obstruction of justice charges.

The US federal grand jury also indicted three officers of the Aegean Group companies on related charges.

All the charges relate to an incident in August 2015 when the chemical tanker Green Sky arrived in the Port of North Charleston and crew members told US Coast Guard (USCG) investigators that they had been ordered on multiple occasions to bypass the ship’s oil water separator.

Records were then allegedly falsified to cover up violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS).

Green Sky is managed by Liberia-flagged Aegean Shipping Management S.A. and owned by Marshall Islands-flagged Aegeansun Gamma Inc. Both those firms are being charged, as are two former chief engineers and one former second engineer of the Green Sky.

The defendants are scheduled to be arraigned in Charleston on July 26.

Donal Scully

With 28 years experience writing and editing for newspapers in the UK and Hong Kong, Donal is now based in California from where he covers the Americas for Splash as well as ensuring the site is loaded through the Western Hemisphere timezone.
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