US Jury Convicts Two Green Sky Engineers in Magic Hose Case

A federal jury in Charleston, South Carolina, has convicted two chief engineers of the Liberia-flagged chemical tanker, T/V Green Sky, of falsifying documents in order to conceal illegal discharges of oily bilge waste and obstruction charges, the US Department of Justice reports.

Herbert Julian, who served as chief engineer of the vessel from August 3 to September 4, 2015, was convicted of two felony counts under the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS) and for obstruction of justice.

Panagiotis Koutoukakis, chief engineer from February 1 to August 3, 2015, was convicted of two felony counts, one for APPS and another for falsifying records.

At trial, the second engineer Nikolaos Bounovas was acquitted of all charges against him.

Aegean Shipping Management, S.A., the operator of the vessel, pleaded guilty to a violation of the APPS and obstruction of justice in November 2016. These plea materials were previously sealed to protect the integrity of the jury and the witnesses in the trial against the individual defendants.

The tanker’s Captain, Genaro Anciano, also pleaded guilty to charges brought up against him. Ancian testified at the trial of the three engineers. His sentencing has yet to be scheduled.

“With Charleston serving as one of the largest ports on the Eastern seaboard, working vessel pollution cases with the Environmental Crimes Section is an important focus for our office,” said U.S. Attorney Beth Drake, District of South Carolina.

“Through criminal charges, we can deter those who would dump oily wastes into the world’s oceans and use false documents to cover it up.”

The evidence presented to the jury showed that the Green Sky was regularly pumping contaminated and oily water directly overboard, the DOJ said. None of these discharges were disclosed as required. The oil record book of the Green Sky was falsified to cover-up illegal overboard discharges of oily wastes from February to August 2015.

Methods of falsification included omitting illegal bypass operations, claiming that the oil water separator was used when it had not been, and a series of false entries regarding the levels of the bilge holding tank, which were designed to further the cover-up.

While most of these discharges occurred in international waters, evidence at trial revealed that at least two of these discharges were within the Exclusive Economic Zone of the United States during the ship’s voyage from Pascagoula, Mississippi, to Houston, Texas in May 2015.

The evidence presented during the fifteen-day trial demonstrated that the chief engineers covered up illegal overboard discharges that took place through two systems of “magic” hoses and a separate “magic” valve system designed to bypass the ship’s oil water separator, according to the DOJ.

Koutoukakis and Julian falsified the oil record book to hide their illegal discharges. The vessel arrived in Charleston, South Carolina on August 26, 2015, when the false record was presented to the US Coast Guard during an inspection of the vessel. The USCG was tipped off by three whistleblowers who came forward to report the crimes and ask for protection from US authorities.

Sentencing of the operator and defendants Julian and Koutoukakis will take place at a date that will be set by the court.