Cosco Busan operator obstructed justice?

In the latest twist in the legal wrangling following the Cosco Busan oil spill in San Francisco Bay, federal prosecutors accused the firm in charge of the container ship of falsifying documents to obstruct the investigation in the November 2007 event.

This week a federal grand jury in San Francisco indicted Fleet Management Ltd. of Hong Kong of six charges of making false statements and obstructing justice, the company was accused of two misdemeanor counts of criminal negligence for allegedly helping to cause the spill.

Read the San Francisco Chronicle story

The container ship struck the San Francisco Bay Bridge on a foggy morning on November 7, 2007. It caused widespread bird deaths on the bay and closed beaches along the bay and outside the bay along Marin and San Francisco County beaches. More than 420 birds were returned to the wild. At least 2,500 perished in the bunker crude spill.

Read about the Spill response from our perspective