Trafigura found guilty in Ivory Coast waste-dumping case

[Hannah Bell]

Last month the Amsterdam Central Criminal Court found the Trafigura corporation guilty of offloading waste from the ship Probo Koala, despite knowing it to be dangerous, after having illegally exported it from the Netherlands. The court imposed a €1 million fine on the company.

Trafigura have consistently denied responsibility for the dumping and have claimed that the waste was not hazardous to human health. The case has highlighted yet again the problem of toxic waste dumping in Africa and other developing countries...The company was told it would cost €400,000 to treat the waste safely... The alternative the company came up with was to use the services of local company, Tommy, to dump the waste at 14 dump sites around the port city of Abidjan, in the West African country of Ivory Coast. Following the dumping of the waste in September 2006, the city was overwhelmed by a terrible stench, and tens of thousands of people began reporting medical problems...15 people died, 69 were hospitalized, and over 100,000 had to seek medical help...

Trafigura is a London-based company trading in metals and energy, oil trading being a major part of its activity. Last year the company made $1 billion in profits on a $40 billion turnover...

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/aug2010/ivor-a05.shtml

[Hannah Bell]

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