ANTWERPEN, WILLEMSTAD - Mixing cheap chemical waste into ship fuel is highly lucrative but also illegal. The director of a major Antwerp-based company involved in fuel transportation faces a three-year prison sentence and a financial penalty of nearly 3.7 million euros for blending waste with heavy fuel oil from Curaçao. 

In intercepted phone conversations, the suspects refer to the waste as "Curaçao junk." 

In the spring of 2023, a proud, slightly older duo stands before the Belgian court. The woman is nicely dressed, and the man is sharply dressed in a suit. They are determined to convince the court that they have done nothing wrong. According to the man, there is a misunderstanding. "I would appreciate a quick verdict," he says. "This case has been going on for ten years. I cannot sell my company." 

They are not the typical individuals you would associate with a criminal organization. However, this duo is suspected of being the masterminds behind a serious environmental offense. They are believed to have used (chemical and hazardous) waste on a large scale to produce ship fuel. This affair begins in Curaçao. 

In the middle of Curaçao, near Willemstad, lies a large bay. Once, beautiful mangrove forests—a threatened ecosystem—with trees whose aerial roots extended above the water surface, were found here. But they have long disappeared. The furthest tip of the bay has been an "ecological disaster zone" for over seventy years. Over the years, the water has become filled with thick layers of asphalt and other waste from oil refining. Even now, if you walk along the edges of the lake, you can clearly see the pollution. The locals have been calling it the "Asphalt Lake" for ages. It is even identifiable as such on Google Earth. 

Shell leaves a mess behind 

At the end of World War II, Shell processed crude oil from Venezuela into kerosene for the aircraft used by the Allied forces crossing the ocean in Curaçao's Buskabaai. Residual products from that refining process were dumped in a mangrove and eventually buried under a layer of asphalt. Shell left the site in the mid-1960s. The company sold the refinery to the Curaçao government for the symbolic amount of one guilder, thereby getting rid of the responsibility to clean up its own mess. 

Since 2006, the company Asphalt Lake Recovery has been remediating the 52-hectare Asphalt Lake. The lake has been excavated since 2010. The viscous sludge released during the process is melted at high temperatures. This slurry still has calorific value and can be used as fuel. Although it needs to be diluted to serve as ship fuel, it is considered, if all goes well, a better alternative than extracting new oil. Not only fuel traders benefit from this, the idea goes, but also the environment. 

The story has been presented as a success in the local press: the Curaçaoan population dreams of a Green Town in the most polluted place on their island, with new homes and a marina surrounded by greenery. The remediation is announced with bold headlines such as "Black sludge becomes fuel." 

Connection with Antwerp 

The blending of fuels to make them suitable for use is, of course, subject to regulations. However, this regulatory framework is complex, and the fuel market is internationally organized. Moreover, stricter requirements regarding sulfur emissions make the search for cheap diluents increasingly attractive. It is a multimillion-dollar business in which parties push the boundaries and often exceed them. Follow the Money previously described how chemical waste is extensively mixed into ship fuel. 

Dutch police investigations revealed that the melted asphalt from the remediator Asphalt Lake Recovery was not only diluted with lighter petroleum—the usual diluent—but also with locally collected used motor oil from garages and used ship fuel collected in Curaçao. Waste, in other words. 

And the investigators found something else: byproducts from the petrochemical industry in Antwerp. How do chemical waste materials from Antwerp end up halfway across the world in Curaçao? The link was not hard to find: Asphalt Lake Recovery is nearly half-owned by Christian K., the owner of the Antwerp-based bunker supplier Oilchart, which is also active in the Netherlands. 

Due to the connection with Belgium, the Functioneel Parket of Rotterdam sought the assistance of the Antwerp Public Prosecutor's Office in mid-2017. 

'Cura-rommel' 

Poor-quality bunker fuel leads to much higher emissions of harmful substances. It is also detrimental to ship engines. A skipper told Follow the Money in 2022 that problems arose with the main engine of the ship he was working on due to bad oil. The crew initially thought it wasn't a big issue. However, over a week later, still at sea, they realized that the situation was really bad. "At that point, we had already burned about two-thirds of our fuel. When we looked, we saw that the steel components of the engine had been chemically corroded." 

Despite the clear damage caused by their actions, it is difficult to impose strong punishments on fraudulent fuel blenders. 

The Asphalt Lake scandal brought Oilchart, director Christian K., and co-director Sonja V. before the criminal court in Antwerp's Vlinderpaleis at the end of April. "There is no question of recycling," said a sharp prosecutor. "They mix waste together." 

The company and its directors are being held accountable for three shipments from Curaçao to Antwerp. They are suspected of violating European and Flemish regulations regarding the transportation of waste and participating in a criminal organization.  

Andante Investigation 

The case against Oilchart is part of a larger police investigation into fuel fraud. In this investigation, which began in 2012 under the codename "Andante," two other companies were convicted in the Netherlands: Dutch company Unigas and Greek company Aegean Oil. 

These companies also collected non-usable fuel oil without a permit based on waste materials and transported it from the Netherlands to Belgium. 

In intercepted phone conversations, the directors referred to it as "junk," "processing rubbish," and "Cura-rommel" (Curaçao junk), according to the public prosecutor. Correspondence between the shareholders and a minister, according to the prosecution, shows that V. and K. were aware that they were treating waste materials as if they were raw materials. 

During a two-hour presentation of the prosecution's case, the Antwerp prosecutor outlined a picture of "relatively extensive and complex internationally organized waste transports in the bunker fuel sector." She also referred to "organized international environmental fraud" and accused the defendants of not being transparent in any way about the composition of the asphalt and the diluent. 

The driving forces, according to the Public Prosecutor, can be summed up in two concepts: pursuit of profit and safeguarding investments. 

Government official under scrutiny by justice 

The case concerning the Asphalt Lake is primarily a case about whether something is considered a "raw material" or a "waste material." This debate has been ongoing at Oilchart for some time. In 2014, both the waste management company OVAM and the Flemish environmental inspection gave a clear verdict: Oilchart was processing waste in its ship fuel. 

However, the company did not give up. It took its chances with the then Deputy Cabinet Chief of the Flemish Minister of the Environment, Joke Schauvliege, Hugo Geerts. 

Geerts overruled the verdict of both environmental authorities. Geerts, an expert in waste management policy with a background in both the public waste management company and a private waste processor, decided on his own that Oilchart was importing "raw materials" and not "waste materials." 

Geerts' intervention in the debate between Oilchart and the Flemish government brought him under scrutiny by justice in 2017. 

In October 2018, detectives from the judicial police searched his office on suspicion of corruption. Geerts was ultimately not prosecuted due to lack of evidence. 

Vague regulations? 

International regulations make it difficult for inspection services to determine whether there is tampering with blending agents. While ship fuel must comply with international standards, there are no ISO norms for the "diluents" used to produce that ship fuel. 

The management of Oilchart defends itself by arguing that there is no blacklist of unauthorized diluents. They also believe that the blending agents they used met the criteria to obtain the "end-of-waste status." This means that the agents are no longer considered waste but have become reusable products (for example, after recycling). 

Neither the waste management company OVAM nor the environmental inspection is convinced of this. Additionally, OVAM noted that Oilchart did not provide clarity on the diluent used by the company. "In the bunkering world, a wide variety of diluents are used, and cost minimization is sought," OVAM stated in correspondence with the cabinet. "There are indications that many bunkering companies use waste streams as diluents for lucrative reasons." 

The net is closing 

During the trial at the Antwerp Vlinderpaleis, the older duo behind Oilchart argued that they have a clean criminal record in Belgium. However, their company was previously convicted in the Netherlands. In 2017, the Rotterdam court convicted Oilchart for collecting ship waste without a permit and transporting non-usable fuel oil to Belgium. This verdict was upheld by the Court of Appeal in 2018 and by the Supreme Court in 2020. 

The oil trader was fined €30,000. If convicted in this case, the director faces a prison sentence of three years and a financial loss of nearly €3.7 million. 

The older duo of Oilchart maintains that they imported raw materials and not waste. The defense referred to a "miscarriage of justice" and requested acquittal. 

They will receive clarity on June 30th when the three-member Environmental Chamber of the Antwerp court delivers its verdict. 

Reported by Follow the Money