Mani Singh, an Indian, working as chief engineer on a container ship, has been convicted by a US court in Boston for covering up pollution in the vessel. He worked on the MSC Elena— a Panamanian registered container ship operated by MSC Ship Management, a Hong Kong-based ship company. His company has agreed to pay $10.5 million for this alleged cover up.This, if approved by the court, would be the largest amount ever paid in a case involving deliberate pollution from a single vessel and the largest criminal fine paid by a defendant in an environmental case in Massachusetts history.Singh, 57, now faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison on various counts including violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships, destruction of evidences, false statement and conspiracy charges.He used one ‘‘magic pipe’’ to bypass pollution prevention equipment, alleged Michael J Sullivan, the US Attorney for the District of Massachusetts. According to the indictment, the bypass equipment, referred to as the ‘‘magic pipe’’ was used to circumvent required pollution prevention equipment of the ship. The equipment was discovered by the US Coast Guard during an inspection of the ship in Boston Harbor on May 16, 2005.In 2005 Singh directed that ‘‘magic pipe’’ be used to discharge waste overboard, the indictment charged. Both sludge and oil contaminated bilge waste were discharged overboard through bypass equipment and without use of Oil Water Separator. International and US law prohibit the discharge of waste oil without treatment by an Oil Water Separator— a required pollution prevention device.
