The chief executive at oil trader Trafigura can be prosecuted for exporting toxic waste on the ship Probo Koala in July 2006, the Amsterdam court ruled on Monday evening.

President director Claude Dauphin had appealed against prosecution, saying at an earlier court hearing he did not know about the toxic waste until mid-August 2006. ‘The transportation was already complete before I found out,’ he said. That court upheld his appeal.
However, the public prosecutor took the case to the Supreme Court which ruled the Amsterdam court should re-hear the case. It has now overturned its previous ruling.
Chemical slops
Trafigura was fined €1m on appeal in December 2011 for the export of chemical slops left over from the processing of the oil product nafta.
The Probo Koala sailed from Amsterdam on July 5 2006 to the Ivory Coast where it handed over the waste to processing to an inexperienced local firm.
The court ruled Trafigura broke the law by taking the waste to the west African country and by concealing its toxic nature.
In September 2009, Trafigura agreed to pay a maximum €33m in damages to 31,000 people from Ivory Coast who claim they were made ill by the toxic waste from the Probo Koala.