Kirill Kompaniets, the Chief Engineer of a foreign flagged vessel, was sentenced to prison for deliberately discharging approximately 10,000 gallons of oil-contaminated bilge water overboard in U.S. waters off the coast of New Orleans last year and for obstructing justice, according to the United States Department of Justice on Wednesday (31 August).
The illegal conduct was first reported to the Coast Guard by a crew member via social media. The Honorable Nannette Jolivette Brown sentenced Kompaniets to serve a year and a day in prison, pay a USD 5,000 fine and USD 200 special assessment and serve six months of supervised release.
Repair operations to correct a problem with the discharge of clean ballast water resulted in engine room flooding. After the leak was controlled, Kompanietes and a subordinate engineer dumped the oily bilge water overboard while the ship was at an anchorage near the Southwest Passage off the Louisiana coast.
The ship’s required pollution prevention devices – an oily-water separator and oil content monitor – were not used, and the discharge was not recorded in the Oil Record Book, a required ship log.
Kompaniets was also charged with obstruction of justice based on various efforts to conceal the illegal discharge.
In a joint factual statement filed in Court with his guilty plea, Kompaniets admitted to the following acts of obstruction of justice:
According to the United States Department of Justice, the investigation is still ongoing.
Photo credit: Bill Oxford
Published: 2 September, 2022
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