Farmers 'terrified out of their homes' to sue BP for £15m

[emad]

By Robert Verkaik, Legal Affairs Correspondent
18 June 2005


BP is facing a £15m compensation claim from a group of Colombian farmers who say that the British oil company took advantage of a regime of terror by government paramilitaries to profit from the construction of a 450-mile pipeline.

In what will be a landmark human rights case in the UK, the farmers allege that the pipeline destroyed their land and forced them into destitution.

A British law firm representing the farmers has written to BP, accusing the company of benefiting from harassment and intimidation meted out by Colombian paramilitaries employed by the government to guard the pipeline.

BP insists that it has acted responsibly and that landowners were fairly compensated during the construction of the pipeline.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=647705

[mbperrin]

1. Oil companies up to dirty work?

No way!




OK, I didn't laugh out loud when I wrote it! :0