After bitterly contesting the case, a British oil trading giant has agreed to a multimillion-pound payout to settle a huge damages claim from thousands of Africans who fell ill from tonnes of toxic waste dumped illegally in one of the worst pollution incidents in decades, reports The Independent.

The Western world has shown remarkable tolerance towards economic/business/environmental/political criminals, while going berserk in response to crimes committed in the name of religion by militants/terrorists.

“Trafigura, a London-based company which bills itself as one of the world’s largest oil traders, said it was in talks to reach a ‘global settlement’ to the claim by 30,000 people from Ivory Coast, who brought Britain’s largest-ever lawsuit after contaminated sludge from a tanker ship was fly-tipped under cover of darkness in August 2006.

“The incident caused at least 100,000 residents from the west African country’s most populous city, Abidjan, to flood into hospitals and clinics complaining of breathing difficulties and sickness.

“Investigations by the Ivorian authorities suggested that the deaths of at least 10 people were linked to the waste. Trafigura has always insisted the foul-smelling slurry, dumped without its knowledge by a sub-contractor, could not have caused serious injury or illness.

“The bitterly contested legal action has seen Trafigura repeatedly deploy one of Britain’s most aggressive firms of lawyers to dispute reporting on the case by media outlets including the BBC. Under the deal, thousands of Ivorians who suffered short-term illnesses, including vomiting, diarrhoea and breathing difficulties, receive a payout understood to be set at several hundred pounds.

“But the settlement, which is likely to be confirmed by the end of this month, will mean that claims of more serious injuries caused by the waste – including miscarriages, still births and birth defects – will now not be tested in the £100m court claim, which had been scheduled to start in London’s High Court next month.

“Trafigura, a privately-owned multinational which has 1,900 staff working in 42 offices around the world, last year claimed a turnover of $73bn (£44bn). The figure is double the entire GDP of Ivory Coast, where half the population of 21 million live on less than a dollar a day.”

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Trafigura company split off in 1993 from an even more controversial group, run by Marc Rich. Rich was accused by the US of sanctions-busting to Iran and tax evasion, but was pardoned by the US president, Bill Clinton, in 2001, reports The Guardian.

“Trafigura’s own name has been linked not only with Ivory Coast’s toxic waste, but also with worldwide accusations of bribery, smuggling or improper waste disposal.

“Saddam Hussein’s Iraq was under international sanctions in 2001 when Trafigura was involved in the smuggling out of the country of 500,000 barrels of oil, according to the UN Volcker report. Allegedly, a UN inspector was bribed by Iraq to turn a blind eye.”

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Guy Oulla, a mathematics professor, said he was unable to work for four months after a truckload of sludge was emptied into a dam near his house. “To me it smelled like rubber burning. I began to shiver, and then began to throw up, before the stomach pain started.” He said he had spent hundreds of pounds on private medical treatment. ” We need to be told what was in the waste and how this is going to affect us in the future.” More here…

For links to toxic waste sites pl click here…

The West has been using Africa to dump its toxic waste for years and continues despite it having being illegal since 1992. In 1998 the EU implemented a ban on the exportation of hazardous waste from the West to the developing world, although the USA, Canada and New Zealand refused to sign. More here…

Meanwhile, a latest news from the BBC reveals that a shipwreck that could contain nuclear waste is being investigated by authorities in Italy amid claims that it was deliberately sunk by the mafia. See here…