TRAFIGURA PAY 145m EUROS TO FREE EMPLOYEES

But firm that chartered 'Toxic ship' say they are innocent of all accusations

Three employees of the Dutch headquarted trading firm Trafigura arrested by Ivory Coast authorities have been freed following a payment of 145 million Euros to the government.

The three were arrested following an incident that the Ivory Coast authorities alleged was a deliberate act of toxic dumping from a ship charted by the Dutch firm, the PROBO KOALA, which resulted in ten deaths and widespread illness in the Ivory Coast. The toxic waste had been dumped in and around residential areas after being removed from the ship.

Trafigura have vehemently denied that they deliberately took a cargo of waste to the Ivory Coast saying the chartered vessel, after delivering its cargo of gasoline to Nigeria had simply offloaded 'chemical slops' for commercial disposal and that these slops had been held as usual in the waste tanks. The company said no facilities existed in Nigeria to handle the waster properly and that was why the ship had went to Abidjan in the Ivory Coast, which the company praised as one of the 'best equipped refinery ports in West Africa.

Trafigura say they are, and always have been, desirous of understanding what happened to the waste material and why the deaths and illness were linked to it. They also deny that the slops contained hydrogen sulphide, saying that if this had been the case immediate illness would have occurred with the ships crew and terminal workers, which, they say, did not happen.

The company had sent two of its senior executives to the Ivory Coast on 14th September, to see if they could help with investigations. The two men were promptly arrested.

The company say they welcome the release of their employees and that they have committed to investing in facilities to construct a new waste disposal plant and hospital.

The company said it would continue to trade in the region and that they and the Ivory Coast government could now go forward together.

However, Martin Day, a lawyer with the London firm Leigh, Day & Co says the settlement is not enough. Already a 1000 people have joined the lawsuit he is bringing against the company in London, and he hopes for thousands more. He claims anything between 100 and 200 businesses were affected and lost money from the fallout of the chemical waste discharged at the Ivory Coast port.

A former Greenpeace campaigner Andreas Bernstorff described the settlement as 'a dirty deal'.

Meanwhile the PROBO KOALA has undergone a name change. She is now the GULF NASH, owned and managed by Gulf Nav Ship Management LLC. The vessel seems to have had a clear record and has never been detained or suffered serious deficiencies at Port Inspections.

Greenpeace blockaded the ship when she later called at Paldiski, Estonia but despite their protests and pleas that the ship should be impounded she ship sailed from the port. (Photo above Copyright Greenpeace)