Tanker company fined $4.9 million

Tanker company fined $4.9 million Ionia Management, a Greek company that manages a fleet of tanker vessels, was sentenced last week for its role in falsifying records to conceal the overboard dumping of waste oil from the ship Kriton into international waters and for efforts to impede a U.S. Coast Guard investigation.
   The Justice Department said on Friday that U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton for the District of Connecticut fined Ionia Management $4.9 million and appointed a special master to oversee the company’s record keeping. As part of the sentence, the special master will hold hearings every six months to review the company’s records. Also as part of the sentence, no ships owned by Ionia Management will be permitted into U.S. ports without first installing special monitoring equipment.
   Ionia Management was convicted on Sept. 6, in New Haven, Conn., on 13 counts of violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships, three counts of falsifying records in a federal investigation, one count of obstruction of justice, and one count of conspiracy.
   “Ionia Management engaged in serious criminal conduct, concealing their deliberate acts of large-scale pollution, even while they were on probation,” said Ronald J. Tenpas, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “This company has a history of ignoring environmental laws and obstructing subsequent Coast Guard investigations. Today’s sentence should make clear to them that such actions will be punished.”