– ‘Too little’ –
In August 2006 toxic residue on board the Panamanian-registered Probo Koala freighter was sent to Abidjan, where it was later dumped in several sites around the city by a local hauler.
The 528 cubic metres (18,600 cubic feet) of spent caustic soda, oil residues and water subsequently killed 17 people and poisoned tens of thousands, Ivorian judges said.
Trafigura, which declined an interview request from AFP, firmly denies the materials could have killed or seriously sickened anyone.
In fact, the company “strenuously maintains that it did nothing wrong and its staff acted in an appropriate manner throughout,” according to its website.
Trafigura, a Swiss-Dutch company, reached out-of-court settlements for 33 million euros in 2009 and 152 million euros in 2007 in Britain and the Ivory Coast.
“We warned that these agreements should never have been signed with Trafigura, it was too little,” said Willy Neth, secretary general of the Ivorian League of Human Rights.
The 152 million euros were paid to the government and a quarter of this money was to go to the victims. But Neth charges that the victims did not receive all they were owed.
“The criteria for identifying victims was inappropriate, less than half of the real victims were counted,” asserted Neth, adding Blonde’s case went unidentified.
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