Remember that ship in Narragansett Bay with a 'Z' on its smokestack? It was a crime scene.
If you're one of those people who thought there was something fishy a year ago about a tanker ship anchored in Narragansett Bay with a "Z" on it and thought it might have been supporting the Russian invasion of Ukraine, you were half right.
In the early days of the Russian occupation, supporters of the war began painting large Zs on vehicles and buildings, leading to speculation that the petroleum tanker – the Galissas – was somehow backing the invasion.
But the big "Z" on ship's smokestack had nothing to do with Russia — it's the initial of the company that owns the ship. No, the Galissas dwelled in the Bay for weeks because it was a crime scene.
More on the Galissas: What's the Z? Is the ship in Narragansett Bay supporting Russia's invasion of Ukraine?
Ship's owner, chief engineer face fines
And now the U.S. Attorney's office has reached plea deals with the ship's owner, captain and chief engineer that call for $2.25 million in fines, including half a million that will go to environmental projects in Rhode Island.
The deals are detailed in paperwork filed last week describing two felony charges in the case.
One charge says the Galissas did not have a key safety system in place when it sailed from Holland to Rhode Island in February last year. Lack of a functioning system to pump inert gas into the ship's cargo tanks allowed oxygen levels to rise to the point where the ship could have exploded.
The other charge says the ship's crew did not maintain accurate records on the system designed to prevent discharge of oil into the ocean. Seawater and oil from machinery collect in the lowest levels of a ship, called the bilges. The oil is supposed to be separated before the seawater is pumped overboard. But, the filing says, the Galissas pumped the oily water directly into the ocean, and then pumped clean seawater into the bilges to hide the violation.
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Charges could carry prison time for ship's captain, engineer
Zeus Lines Management, the Greek company that owns the Panamanian-flagged ship, has agreed to plead guilty to both charges and pay the fines — a $1.7-million criminal fine plus a $562,500 "community service" fine to the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation to be spent on Rhode Island projects. According to the plea agreement, those projects can include restoration of salt marshes, beaches and dunes and freshwater wetlands, as well as removal of dams and other structures that impede the movement of fish, plus converting "hardened" coastline structures to "green infrastructure" that will reduce flooding, erosion and polluted runoff.
Jose Ervin Mahinge Porquez, a Filipino citizen and the ship's captain, known in legal parlance as its "master," agreed to plead guilty to the safety-system charge and be sentenced in accordance with federal sentencing guidelines, with credit for accepting responsibility by pleading guilty.
Roberto Cayabyab Penaflor, the ship's engineer and also a Filipino citizen, agreed to plead guilty to the oil records charge and be sentenced in accordance with the guidelines, with credit for accepting responsibility by pleading guilty.
The charges against both men carry a statutory maximum of six years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years' probation.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: The true story – and crime – behind mystery 'Z' ship in Bay last year
