Dutch court to rule in Ivory Coast toxic waste case
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Friday, July 23, 2010
A Dutch court is to give its judgement in a case involving the British and Dutch-based multinational Trafigura.
The case involves the transportation of waste to Ivory Coast, which
is alleged to have been involved in the injury of thousands of local
people in 2006.
It is alleged that the company tried to
get a Dutch contractor to clean waste on board one of its ships, but
the price was too high and the firm found an Ivorian company to dispose
of it.
Trafigura denies any wrongdoing.
The
company is facing three charges - that it illegally exported waste from
a European Union country to Africa; that it delivered a hazardous
substance to a Dutch contractor without revealing just how toxic it
was; and that it falsified papers.
Trafigura has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
A UN report found strong evidence blaming the waste for at least 15 deaths, although the company denies responsibility for this.
In 2007 Trafigura paid $160m (£104m) to the government of Ivory Coast.
Trafigura
also paid $50m (£32m) in an out-of-court settlement to individuals in
Ivory Coast who said they had been injured when the waste was spread on
dumps around the capital, Abidjan.