US Completes Deferred Prosecution Agreement with Dali’s Chief Engineer

Days after it emerged that the United States was seeking to prosecute the chief engineer of the containership Dali, a deferred prosecution agreement was completed, which contains admissions of guilt through a statement of facts. Details of the full conditions were not released, but the chief engineer’s prosecution is deferred for up to 36 months as the U.S. pursues criminal charges against the Dali’s operator and one of its technical supervisors.

The chief engineer, 46-year-old Indian national Karthikeyan Deenadayalan, agrees to be charged with a violation of the Ports & Waterways Safety Act. He admits a violation for not notifying the U.S. Coast Guard of dangerous and unsafe conditions on the vessel when it arrived in Baltimore days before it destroyed the Francis Scott Key Bridge.

Among the stipulations that are public, Deenadayaal agrees to remain in the United States and obtain permission before attempting to travel outside the country for any reason. Other elements of the agreement remain sealed and could likely hinge on his providing testimony during the criminal trial of Synery Marine and its Technical Superintendent.

Attached to the agreement is a Statement of Fact, which provides new details into the alleged problems aboard the Dali as well as two sisterships also operated by Synergy Marine. Deenadayalan had signed on to the Dali in January 2024, but before that, he had served a contract on the Maersk Saltoro in 2020-2021 and two contracts on the Cezanne between 2021 and 2023, each time as an employee of Synergy Marine.

He states he did not have a familiarization handover before joining the Dali as chief engineer, and he quickly found that generator 3 and 4’s “Generator Engine Fuel Oil System, including its fuel supply and booster pumps, was in such a state of disrepair that it could not be readily operated.” He reports discussing the problem with Technical Supervisor Radhakrishnan Karthik Nair, who is named in the criminal indictment. The chief engineer reports he requested the immediate purchase of “AE Fuel Oil Auto Back Wash Filter Spares” and was expecting them to be delivered to the ship.

Further, in early February, he reports the charter of the Dali, sent an email asking about the vessel’s planned fuel consumption, including an excessive amount of MGO versus the less expensive VLSFO. Deenadayaal says the Technical Supervisor instructed him to write a “convincing email” to the charter. They infer the goal was to hide that the flushing pump was not connected to the VLSFO tank and that they were attempting to hide that the Dali “was using an unsafe, non-redundant fuel supply system.”

Deenadayalan, in accepting the statement of facts, admits he believed that it “was unsafe to use the flushing pump as the continuous fuel supply pump for generators 3 and 4.” He says he knew it “lacked redundancy and it could compromise the vessel’s safe navigation and ability to recover from a power loss.” Further, he admits that operating the Dali with a non-redundant fuel supply was a violation of SOLAS.     

Judge James Bredar, during the hearing regarding the Deferred Prosecution Agreement, reportedly called the statement of fact “quite powerful in its significance,” according to the Baltimore Banner. Earlier in the week, the judge set October 2027 as the trial date for the criminal case against Synergy Marine and its Technical Supervisor.

The U.S. retains the right to prosecute the chief engineer if he violates the terms of the agreement.  Prosecutors highlighted that he would face a maximum possible penalty of six years in prison and three years of supervised release. Deenadayalan is so far the only crewmember from the Dali to face potential prosecution.