SELENE LEADER

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Engineer sentenced to prison for dumping oily waste

The former chief engineer of the "Selene Leader" has been sentenced to eight months in prison for obstruction of justice and violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships after being accused of illegally dumping oily waste into the ocean and attempting to cover it up. Noly Torato Vidad was originally arrested early in 2014 after having allegedly supervised crew members as they illegally dumped waste overboard without first passing it through an oil water separator. In November 2014 Vidad had pled guilty to charges of obstruction of justice and violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS). According to plea and court documents, Vidad, along with the first engineer aboard the ship, encouraged crew to lie to Coast Guard officials in addition to falsifying oil record books. The Japan-based Hachiuma Steamship Co Ltd, the operator of the ship, has already paid a $1.8 million penalty, $ 450,000 of which went to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. Another $ 250,000 was also paid out to the crew member aboard the "Selene Leader" who alerted officials. Vidad's prison sentence will be followed by one year of supervised release.

Japanese shipper fined $1.8M for illegal oil discharge, with whistle-blower taking $250K

A japanese ship operator was ordered to pay $1.8 million for illegally dumping oil residue and bilge water into the ocean last year, as part of a plea agreement Friday (Jan. 30) in federal court in Baltimore. A crew member on board the ship who acted as a whistle-blower will receive $250,000 of that, while $450,000 will go to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for projects benefiting the Chesapeake Bay, according to the office of Rod J. Rosenstein, the U.S. attorney for Maryland. The sentence, handed down by U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake, came after Hachiuma Steamship Co., the operator of the M/V Selene Leader, pleaded guilty to violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships. More at http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bs-bz-shipper-pollution-fine-20150130-story.html

Car Carrier Chief Engineer Pleads Guilty in ‘Magic Pipe’ Case

The chief engineer of a NYK Line car carrier has pleaded guilty in federal court in Baltimore, Maryland, to obstruction of justice and violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships, GCaptain reports. Noly Torato Vidad was the chief engineer of the Panama-flagged MV Selene Leader, operated by Hachiuma Steamship Co LTD, a Japanese company, between August 2013 and the end of January 2014. According to the plea aggreement, in January 2014, engine room crew members of the M/V Selene Leader under the supervision of Chief Engineer Vidad used a so-called ‘magic pipe’, which in this case was a rubber hose, to bypass the oil water separator and discharge oily wastes overboard into the ocean. When the Coast Guard boarded the vessel in Baltimore on Jan. 31, 2014, Vidad tried to obstruct the Coast Guard’s investigation and hide the illegal discharges of oil by falsifying the oil record book, destroying documents, lying to Coast Guard investigators and instructing subordinate crew members to lie to the Coast Guard. Vidad’s sentencing has been scheduled for February 20, 2015. The case was investigated by the U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney P. Michael Cunningham of the District of Maryland and Senior Trial Attorney David P. Kehoe of the Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section.