Maltese-flagged vessel in US court over illegal dumping

A Maltese-flagged vessel used a so-called "magic pipe" system to allow the bypassing of required environmental controls, a Virginia court heard yesterday.

The Antonis G. Pappadakis, the vessel owned by Angelex Ltd of Malta, used a hose and pump contraption to transfer oil waste from its bilge holding tank to the ship's sanitation system, and then dump it overboard.

The illegality was evidenced by dozens of photographs presented by the United States Coast Guard, after it was tipped off by Filipino assistant engineer Nathaniel Enicola, 52, who provided federal authorities with the allegations.

Defense attorneys for Angelex Ltd suggested in court that Enicola actually kept the purported evidence to himself as the ship criss-crossed Europe, waiting until he had the chance to reap a potentially huge financial reward when the vessel came to Norfolk, Virginia.

"You had three opportunities to report these alleged crimes - and you didn't," Trey Kelleter, attorney for the chief engineer, told Enicola, citing port stops in Amsterdam, Latvia and Poland. "Why?"

"Because I was busy," said Enicola, who spoke through an interpreter.

International and US laws require that oily water from a ship either be stored until it is moved to a waste facility onshore, or discharged overboard after being processed through a system that filters out all but a trace of oil.

Enicola alleged that the chief engineer was ordering the crew to do something that was illegal and that he had assisted in the hose-and-pump operation to take the photos of the bypass mechanism in action.

Enicola's allegations led to the detention of the ship, with a crew of 16 aboard, at Portsmouth Marine Terminal and an eight-count indictment handed up by a federal grand jury in May.

The three defendants - Kassian Maritime Navigation Agency Ltd, a Liberian corporation with offices in Athens, Greece, and the operator of the ship, Angelex Ltd., the Malta-based owner of the ship; and Lambros Katsipis, the ship's chief engineer - face charges that include conspiracy, falsification of records and obstruction of justice.

Under Virginia whistleblower laws, Enicola could get up to half of any fine that might result in the case, sums that could range into six or seven figures.

In March, two shipping firms based in Germany and Cyprus pleaded guilty to charges similar to those included in the Norfolk federal grand jury's indictment. They agreed to pay a $10.4 million penalty, according to the Justice Department's website.