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'Senior Trafigura staff knew of toxic waste'Thursday 17 September 2009 The head of Amsterdam-based oil company Trafigura and other senior staff were aware that the ship Probo Koala was carrying toxic waste and that it was illegal to take the waste out of Europe, the Volkskrant reports on Thursday. The paper says internal documents obtained by environmental organisation Greenpeace show company founder Claude Dauphin knew there was toxic waste on board the ship before it was taken to Ivory Coast. Fifteen people were killed and thousands made ill after the waste was dumped at various locations around the port of Abdijan by a local cleaning firm. The documents show that Dauphin was involved in coming up with ways to dispose of the waste while it was still on board the ship, the paper says. He has always denied knowing anything about the toxic waste until after it was dumped. One internal document shows the company had already analysed the contents of the waste in 2005. The waste had been created while Probo Koala was used to process a shipment of nafta to reduce its sulphur content. 'This method is banned in most countries because of the dangerous make-up of the waste. EU rules do not allow it to be exported,' the paper quotes a memo to Dauphin as saying. The company had tried to have the waste reprocessed in Amsterdam but took it away because of the cost. Last year, a court in Amsterdam said Dauphin should not face prosecution. For the Guardian report on the cover up, click here © DutchNews.nl Get the DutchNews.nl newsletter in your mailbox: Click here to subscribe
It is totally outrageous truly shameful for any respectful court to try back the actions of this reckless oil company. This very irresponsible and reckless action by Mr. Trafigura and co. clearly show that making money is far more important than ensuring environmental safety. Oh! and by the way why sale all the way to Africa to dump your waste? There's plenty of coastline in Europe, but i guess Africa is better suited for this purpose because its 'dumping ground'. I am really not suprised because this is not the first such case and would neither be the last of rich and powerful corporations taking advantage of poor third world countries for their own selfish interests. This guy and his company should be prosecuted to the fullest extent and the families of the those killed by the toxic waste be compensated by the company...Enough said. By Lewis | September 19, 2009 6:24 AM Place your comments: |
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It seems to me that there is good evidence that this massive energy trading company put its own profit as more important than the lives and health of the residents of ivory coast where it knowingly dumped toxic waste. If justice is important they should be prosecuted and if found guilty the company should be put out of business and the relevant staff sent to jail.
By michael | September 17, 2009 9:23 PM