Feds indict Filipino crewman, shipping firms for dumping oil in Pacific

Gilbert de la Cruz, a Filipino assistant engineer is facing decades in prison and his employers, millions in fines, after his ship, Zao Galaxy (above) allegedly dumped oily waste water near the Golden Gate Bridge. VESSELFINDER

SAN FRANCISCO — Federal prosecutors charged two shipping companies and a Filipino engineer on an oil tanker with dumping oil in the Pacific Ocean on at least four occasions.

First engineer Gilbert de la Cruz and the companies FGL Moon Marshall Limited, Unix Line Pte Ltd. (“Unix”), are charged with violating a federal anti-pollution act, as well as aiding and abetting pollution, and obstruction of justice. The charges carry up to 20 years in prison and fines totaling $1.5 million, prosecutors said.

The complaint alleges that de la Cruz ordered crewmen on the oil tanker Zao Galaxy to dump the oil three miles into the ocean and conceal what had happened by repainting bilge tanks among other actions. Two whistleblowers on the ship agreed to cooperate with investigators, authorities said.

One of the whistleblowers, identified in court records as “Crew Member Two,” told authorities de la Cruz “ordered him to pump the oily waste overboard three to four times” in January and February, and, “to do so only when it was dark outside.”