Chief Engineer Denys Korotkiy of the M/V DONALD has been found guilty of conspiracy to obstruct justice, obstruction of justice, and failure to maintain accurate records after a five-day trial with a jury. Following the trial, the engineer has been remanded in custody and is scheduled to be sentenced on September 1st.
The evidence presented in court conclusively demonstrated that Korotkiy, along with others on the vessel, was directly involved in the unauthorized discharge of oily bilge water into the ocean by bypassing the ship's pollution control equipment through the sewage holding tank. The U.S. Coast Guard Sector San Diego and the U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service conducted this investigation.
Against the legal requirement, these discharges were intentionally not recorded in the vessel's oil record book. Additionally, Korotkiy was found to have falsified entries in the record book, creating false records to falsely indicate that the bilge water transfers had occurred when, in fact, he had been dumped into the ocean. He also conspired with others to deceive the coast guard during their inspection of the mishandling of bilge water on the M/V DONALD.
The vessel's operator, Interunity Management (Deutschland) GMBH, had previously pleaded guilty to violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships by maintaining false records and discharging bilge water into the ocean. The company has agreed to pay a fine of $1.25 million, serve a four-year probation, and implement an Environmental Compliance Plan for any of its vessels visiting the United States.
Source: Fleetmon
