Page 10: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (January 2004)

mer NCL engineer made allegations to the Criminal Investigation Division of the Environmental Protection Agency.

NCL learned of the tip and discovered environmental violations during an internal audit. The cruise line's outside auditor actually witnessed NCL engi- neers aboard the SS Norway in the act of circumventing the ship's Oil Water

Separator, a required pollution preven- tion device. The engineers deliberately used fresh water to trick a machine's oil sensor designed to detect and limit the overboard discharges. NCL reported the criminal conduct to the government, which was already investigating the whistle-blower's tip, and has cooperated in the government's investigation. "(These) charges are necessary to show both companies and individuals operating and managing ships that they may not pollute our oceans and lie to our government." said Sansonetti, Assistant

Attorney General for the Justice

Department's Environment and Natural

Resources Division. "Corporations do not act alone but through the acts of individuals and they must also be held accountable. This prosecution demon- strates the continuing commitment of the United States Attorney's Office to aggressively prosecute environmental crimes," said Marcos Daniel Jimenez,

U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Prosecutors announced that

U.S. District Court Judge Joan A.

Lenard awarded the whistle-blower $250,000. The indictment alleges that the defendants engaged in a conspiracy to use false Oil Record Books in order to conceal overboard discharges from the

SS Norway without the use of a proper- ly functioning Oil Water Separator and in order to obstruct Coast Guard inspec- tions.

The Oil Record Book is a required pollution record that is regularly inspected and relied upon by the Coast

Guard. The investigation was conduct- ed by the U.S. EPA, Criminal

Investigation Division: Coast Guard

Investigative Service; United States

Department of Transportation, Office of

Inspector General; Federal Bureau of

Investigation; Miami-Dade Police

Department Environmental

Investigations Unit; and the Florida

Department of Environmental

Protection Division of Law

Enforcement. The case is being prose- cuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida and the

Environmental Crimes Section of the

U.S. Department of Justice with the assistance of the EPA Regional Criminal

Enforcement Counsel.

VIKING LIFE-SAVING EQUIPMENT (America) Inc. 1625 North Miami Avenue • Miami

Florida 33136 • U.S.A.

Tel: +1 (305) 374 5115 • Fax: +1 (305) 374 1535 s e-mail: [email protected] I www.viking-life.com

News

Cruise Ship Engineers Indicted

VIKING

Tom Sansonetti. Assistant Attorney

General for the Justice Department's

Environment and Natural Resources

Division and Marcos Daniel Jimenez,

U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, announced that three senior cruise ship engineers were indicted by a federal grand jury in Miami, Fla., for their role in concealing the overboard dumping of waste oil from the SS

Norway cruise ship in false log books designed to deceive the U.S. Coast

Guard. The defendants. Chief Engineers

Knut Sorboe and Peter Solemdal.

Senior First Engineer Aage

Lokkebraten are Norwegian nationals who were employed by Norwegian

Cruise Line Limited (NCL) at the time of the offenses. NCL, one of the world's largest cruise lines, previously pled guilty and paid a $1 million criminal fine and $500,000 in community service in connection with the case. The govern- ment's investigation began when a for-

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