Guardian.co.uk: How UK oil company Trafigura tried to cover up African pollution disaster

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/16/trafigura-o...

How UK oil company Trafigura tried to cover up African pollution disaster

• Trafigura offers payout to 31,000 victims of toxic dumping
• Secret email trail exposes truth behind £100m legal battle
• Read the emails here

David Leigh
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 16 September 2009 15.08 BST

The British oil trader Trafigura has offered to pay out in a historic damages claim from 31,000 Africans injured by the dumping of toxic waste in one of the worst pollution disasters in recent history, the Guardian can reveal.

The compensation deal for the victims of toxic oil waste dumping in west Africa – likely to be confirmed imminently – means the full extent of attempts to cover up what really happened can be spelled out for the first time.

The truth is laid bare in Trafigura's hitherto secret documents, published by the Guardian today.

The company's internal emails show the true nature of the toxic waste dumped around Abidjan, the capital of Ivory Coast. Trafigura had publicly claimed the waste was harmless.

…

[DCKit]

1. Are they going to pull an Exxon and delay restitution until all the affected are dead? n/t

[NNadir]

2. They probably could have saved money by buying a stamp of approval from Amory Lovins.

That's what great companies like, say, Rio Tinto, do in similar circumstances.

Why give money to Africans? They don't know how to spend it like Amory does.

[Nihil]

3. K & R for another truly sickening story.

> The traders have been publicly insisting for three years that
> their waste was routine and harmless. They claim it was
> "absolutely not dangerous".

... even though they knew full well *before* they acted that the above
is a blatant lie:

> Claude Dauphin, the managing director, was told by the London manager,
> Naeem Ahmed, on 28 December 2005: "Caustic washes are banned by most
> countries due to the hazardous nature of the waste (mercaptans, phenols,
> smell) ... there are not many facilities remaining in the market.
> There is a company in Rotterdam that burns such waste in a high stack
> chimney and charges are approximately $200/kg."
...
> Transport of such toxic waste across EU borders was outlawed, he told
> his bosses. It was illegal to dump it on any EU landfill.
>
> The London-based traders pressed on regardless, the documents reveal.
> They hoped to make profits of $7m a time by buying up what they called
> "bloody cheap" cargoes of sulphur-contaminated Mexican gasoline.
> They decided to try and process the fuel on board a tanker anchored
> offshore, creating toxic waste they called "slops".

Those bastards need to pay now - financially to their victims and personally
through serious jail time followed by damages claims against their blood-money
personal profits.

[T_i_B]

4. Guardian has been gagged from reporting on questions asked in Parliament about this.

[truebrit71]

5. That gag has been lifted as far as I can tell..

..

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/oct/13/trafigura-c...

[T_i_B]

6. Yep, that ruse backfired bigtime.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...