Leading Tory to cut links with oil trader Trafigura
The Waterson Hicks report - [451KB PDF]
Statement from Trafigura - [ KB PDF]
See also:
Ivory Coast toxic dumping report behind secret Guardian gag
Tuesday October 13, 2009A confidential WikiLeaks report into the dumping of toxic waste along the Ivory coast by UK commodities giant Trafigura has seen an extraordinary gag order served on the UK media, to prevent the reporting of statements made in the House of Commons which mention the report's name.
Here's the Guardian's David Leigh in an article first published on Monday night before hitting the front page on Tuesday:
Today's published Commons order papers contain a question to be answered by a minister later this week. The Guardian is prevented from identifying the MP who has asked the question, what the question is, which minister might answer it, or where the question is to be found.
The Guardian is also forbidden from telling its readers why the paper is prevented – for the first time in memory – from reporting parliament. Legal obstacles, which cannot be identified, involve proceedings, which cannot be mentioned, on behalf of a client who must remain secret.
In effect, parliament itself has been gagged.
Here is the gagged question the Guardian can't tell you about (the Commons' member concerned, Paul Farrelly MP, was a former editor for the Guardian's sister newspaper the Observer):
Paul Farrelly (Newcastle-under-Lyme):
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of legislation to protect
(a) whistleblowers and (b) press freedom following the injunctions obtained in the High Court by
(i) Barclays and Freshfields solicitors on 19 March 2009 on the publication of internal Barclays reports documenting alleged tax avoidance schemes and
(ii) Trafigura and Carter-Ruck solicitors on 11 September 2009 on the publication of the Minton report on the alleged dumping of toxic waste in the Ivory Coast, commissioned by Trafigura.
Ivroy Coast dumping by Western companies is possibly the most culpable environmental disaster since thouslands were killed in the Bhopal chemical spill.
What the Commons' gag order is all about is the mentioning of Trafigura and Minton in the same context.
The Minton report was released by WikiLeaks on September 14, 2009. Despite that, and some rock solid work by Guardian investigations editor David Leigh and other journalists on the Trafigura dumping, the Minton report released by WikiLeaks was not named by the UK press.
Why? Because of the earlier 11 September 2009 media injuction mentioned in Paul Farrelly's question. Todate the UK pubic has been kept in the dark. Paul Farrelly's question is an attempt to take on the suppression issue. In the process it connected the Minton report on WikiLeaks to Trafigura, something the UK media could not, or would not do.
Statements made in parliament, including those of Paul Farrelly MP, traditionally enjoy an absolute exemption from molestation by the regular judiciary. Parliament does not, insomuch as it believes itself to be an expression of the national will, subordinate itself to any other court.
Knowing this, lawyers for Trafigura, Carter-Ruck, obtained a second, secret media injuction to prevent reporting of Paul Farrely MP's questions. That this alleged order was granted is a bold and dangerous move by the High Court towards the total privatization of censorship. Is a multi-billion pound commodities trader a truer expression of the national will than the House of Commons? The question is no longer rhetorical.
Minton report: Trafigura toxic dumping along the Ivory Coast broke EU regulations, 14 Sep 2006
(update October 12th, GMT) Following press reportage about dumping off the coast of Africa, Waterson & Hicks, a UK law firm acting for Trafigura, a large London based oil and commodity trader, ordered and received this confidential report (the so-called "Minton report") into toxic dumping practices by its client along and on the Ivory Coast. The report reveals a number of toxic dumping incidents and appears to be the report behind the extraordinary secret October 11, 2009 gagging of the Guardian newspaper. WikiLeaks believes the Guardian was gagged to prevent it reporting the following Parliamentry question:
Paul Farrelly (Newcastle-under-Lyme) - To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of legislation to protect (a) whistleblowers and (b) press freedom following the injunctions obtained in the High Court by (i) Barclays and Freshfields solicitors on 19 March 2009 on the publication of internal Barclays reports documenting alleged tax avoidance schemes and (ii) Trafigura and Carter-Ruck solicitors on 11 September 2009 on the publication of the Minton report on the alleged dumping of toxic waste in the Ivory Coast, commissioned by Trafigura
Dumping Europe's Toxic Wastes On Africa
Paul Adujie - AllAfrica - 12th October 2009
Toxic wastes and other wastes, which are not biodegradable, are being dumped in Nigeria, African nations and other poor countries of the world. This is insidious and vile!
Why won't western nations leave Africans alone? First it was slavery, then colonialism, and now? It is environmental racism! Have you heard the news? Environmental racism against Africans is on the upsurge. It is calculatingly malevolent!
Westerners know that toxic wastes are disasters waiting to explode. It is the realization of the magnitude of this risk, which has led to stringent regulation and control of hazard materials in industrial societies.
There is therefore a correlation between the fear of atomic, nuclear and biohazard materials by industrial nations, and these opprobrious efforts to "conveniently" dump these dangerous toxic wastes upon unsuspecting Africans and the poor of the world. Many questions therefore arise.
Why the desire to dump toxic wastes on Africa? Why would anyone dump toxic wastes on a people? And what immediate and long term consequences may ensue for the Africans and the poor of the world?
In Nigeria, in Ivory Coast, Somalia etc; toxic wastes have been dumped in the recent past. And as a matter of fact, the Ivorian incident became a major legal battle in Europe and in Ivory Coast. Now, according to news reports, there is quickening of pace, in the use of poor nations as dumping grounds for toxic, unwanted garbage generated by Western nations.
According to Elisabeth rosenthal features published in The New York Times recently, wastes dumping by rich western nations, into poor countries has become pervasive, all permeating and intractable.
Elisabeth Rosenthal catalogued the horror stories of those who have become victims of these mostly subterranean; mostly illegal, garbage dumping upon poor nations. Dumping of toxic wastes and garbage is done through methods which are shrouded, sheathed elaborately, calculated to deceive even the most savvy of nations.
These deceitful channels are so replete with evil intents and imbued with complexly intricate cover-ups. The webs of those who are now dumping toxic wastes are said to be extensive in Europe and North America. They are said to routinely engage in these unconscionable illegal actions for short term gains, all at the expense of fellow human beings on the African continent.
This practice of finding profit while causing misery to Africans should be condemned by all. Those who derive financial rewards, in the unconscionable dumping of toxic waste upon poor nations of the world, ought and must be sought out, and punished to the fullest extent of all national and international laws.
History is repeating itself, all over again? If past is prologue, I can only imagine, a hundred years from now, the consequences of the devastations which are being buried or dumped upon our soils now.
I can imagine the deaths, and devastations, the maiming and mutations which will then arise, and as is usual these days, 100 years hence, there will be those who will blame Africans for such future disasters, now in the making, disasters which are now being planted, and incubated, once again, by very nice people in Western nations.
In the early 1980s, Sunday Moses in Koko Village in Warri who accepted toxic waste ignorantly, from an Italian company upon payment of some pittance as fees, soon died of natural causes or exposure to the wastes. We may never know the short and long term consequences of such incidents.
Nigeria just like many of the 53 nations on the continent of African do not have hazard management equipment and necessary expertise to deal with a Three-Mile Island, Love Canal and or Chernobyl type toxic chemical disasters. Africa is in essence being set up for doomsday reminiscent of "The Day After" and this is the time to nip this brewing catastrophe in the bud!
This is a continuing strand of connective tissues in the treatment of Africans and peoples of African descent. The smuggling of toxic wastes is the latest and newest in the barrages of egregious behaviours which have often been directed at Africans and peoples of African descent perennially, by those, who do not see them as fellow human beings.
They take comfort in devaluing our humanity, and then, proceed to foist upon us, continental Africans and peoples of African descent, such horrors as the depravity of slave trade and slavery. And such complete disregard for our human rights, freedoms, independence, liberty and sovereignty, as they imposed colonialism and imperialism. The newest evil, in these onslaughts of evils and wickedness, is, environmental racism.
All those with human decency ought to raise alarm at this new expression of evil and outright wickedness which is once again directed at Africans. The immediate and long term implications of toxic waste dumping on the continent can only be measured in terms of 900 million lives of the person on the African continent. In essence, these will be millions in human catastrophes, when, and not if, the dams of toxic wastes break which are now being constructed by environmental racists in their conglomerations.
Clearly, it must be said here, and pointedly so, that, there are those in this world who are obviously glad to see Africans as the weakest link in the human chain. There are those, whose manipulations and interferences ensure the fragilities of continental Africans. This is why a destabilized Liberia, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Congo, would provide ample opportunity for toxic waste dumpers. It is clear, even with a mere cursory look-over that manipulations, interferences and direct interventions by outsiders, has combined to wrought havoc upon Africans. And further, those who are complicit in these havocs, are quick to then take advantage of resources.
There clearly, are causal connections and links, between internecine crises and control of resources by outsiders, outsiders, who too frequently, act as arms and ammunition suppliers, while doubling as gold and diamond miners; as well as oil, uranium, copper and bauxite prospectors etc.
In the particular case of Somalia, over fishing and dumping of wastes in Somalia have become the signature emblem or landmark of the disintegration of that East African nation. Illegal mining and harvesting have become the driving force in many crises on the African continent. And this is how the phenomenon known as Blood Diamonds, came into worldwide public consciousness.
As Liberia, Sierra Leone, the Congo etc were embroiled in internecine crises, malevolently shrewd financial mercenaries, fueled these crises with weapons smuggled and supplied to the locals, by those with vested interests in goldmines, diamond-mines, oil wells and other raw materials with which the palms of the west is constantly lubricated.
African plights and predicaments are frequently multiplied by those outsiders, who persistently devalue African humanity, through the incessant and relentless ravaging of Africa and Africans!
First there was slavery, then, colonialism and now, environmental racism. Africa and Africans are having to constantly dissipate energies in wasted efforts to dig-out and extricate from deep holes, to which Africa and Africans are constantly thrown. It is therefore no surprise at all, that there are hardly any energies and resources left for development of the African continent.
Africa was deprived of her human capital through slavery. Africa was then deprived of her economic, political, cultural, linguistic and structural development, through complete usurpation by colonizers, who imposed alien languages, culture, religion and political systems etc, without regard to local conditions and systems in Africa.
Why won't they leave Africa alone? The viciousness towards Africa is beyond compare, and history is my witness. Africans have been bearing the brunt of the world's prosperity, or what would anyone call slave-labour, compelled and free, for the benefit of productive ventures of slave traders and slave-owners in pre-industrial America and Europe?
What would anyone call the exploitation of colonized peoples and nations, deprived of raw materials, for the factories in the nations of colonizers? And now, what would you call environmental racism? Soon enough, when the dire consequences of toxic wastes dump will be upon Africa and the poor, there would be those usual revisionists, who would seek to blame Africans for toxic wastes predicaments... predicaments which are now being foisted on Africa.
There is prosperity in parts of the world, prosperity, initiated, or created with African blood, tears and sweats, in which the African is not called to participate; prosperity in which, in the end, the African is called upon, once more, to bear the brunt of the toxic wastes, which in itself, arises or were generated from the prosperity, which have never benefited the African! This is a case of multiple jeopardies and multiple and repeated whamming.
Why won't they leave Africans and peoples of African descent alone?
In this century, what is unfolding now, through this toxic wastes dumping, is another tragedy slated for Africa by outsiders. What should be obvious to all, is the magnitude of the catastrophes which are about to unfold on the African continent.
It portends ominously, horrendous human event which is foreseeable. It is a well known fact that Africans do not possess equipment, technological knowhow or wherewithal, to contain Chernobyl type nuclear meltdown or its toxic wastes equivalents. It should be clear to all, that Africans are not ready for a Bhopal India Union Carbide type disaster.
It should be pretty obvious to the world, that shipping toxic and harmful wastes to the African continent is tantamount to an irrevocable death sentence on the inhabitants of the African continent. This sinister evil, is clearly motivated by racism, and racism by those who have, all through history, sufficiently devalued the African humanity, so that, dumping toxic wastes for profit in Africa, is business as usual, reminiscent of slavery and colonialism.
Why won't they leave Africa alone!
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Leading Tory to cut links with oil trader Trafigura
David Leigh and Rob Evans - Friday, September 18, 2009
The leader of the UK’s opposition Conservative party in the British House of Lords, Lord Strathclyde, is to sever his links with the controversial oil traders Trafigura.
Evidence was disclosed in the Guardian yesterday that the London-based firm has carried out a huge cover-up of its role in an African waste-dumping scandal.
Lord Strathclyde said: “I’ve read today’s stories about Trafigura with concern and I am making inquiries about the situation.”
He is to leave his post as a non-executive director on the board of Trafigura’s hedge-fund arm, Galena Asset Management, which pays him an undisclosed fee.
Lord Strathclyde said yesterday that he had already intended to stand down from Trafigura and all his other business roles by the end of the year “in preparation for the forthcoming general election”.
A second senior Tory, former minister Peter Fraser QC, has now registered on the register of Lords’ interests that he is being paid by Trafigura. This follows a formal complaint by Liberal Democrat Norman Lamb.
Internal e-mails published by the Guardian yesterday revealed that Trafigura, whose traders declared $440 million (€299 million) in profit last year, knew its oil waste was highly toxic, before hundreds of tonnes of it were dumped around the west African city of Abidjan, in Ivory Coast. The company has now agreed to pay compensation to more than 30,000 inhabitants who say they were injured by toxic fumes.
Greenpeace in the Netherlands, where Trafigura has a holding company, have launched a legal action in Amsterdam calling for the firm to be prosecuted for manslaughter or grievous bodily harm, quoting documents which they say detail the waste’s toxicity.
Trafigura continues to deny its waste could cause “serious” injury. In November 2006, the firm’s directors anticipated the prospect of litigation against them over the waste dumping.
Lord Strathclyde had since 2004 sat as a non-executive director on the board of Galena, which shares directors with the oil-trading operation and is based at the same London office block, Portman House, near Marble Arch. He was asked for assistance in dealing with the controversy, and recommended Mr Fraser. Trafigura hired Mr Fraser to write “an independent report”, also for an undisclosed fee.
Mr Fraser says he accepted the job on a similar basis to that of Lord Woolf, the retired lord chief justice, who was paid £6,000 a day by BAe, to write a report on allegations of bribery. Lord Woolf declared his BAe work on the Lords’ register, but Mr Fraser initially decided not to do the same over Trafigura.
Asked whether it was appropriate to take the job, considering Trafigura’s chequered history, including US penalties for involvement in Iraqi sanctions-busting, he said: “I know of nothing of Trafigura’s other activities, as that falls well outside the terms of my remit.”
Lord Strathclyde said yesterday that he was not involved in any way in Trafigura’s oil operations. “I sit as an independent non-executive director on the board of Galena Asset Management Ltd, a British registered company, regulated by the FSA, specialising in managing funds in metals-based commodities of which Trafigura is the shareholder. The businesses are run separately and Galena has no involvement in any of the allegations made today.
“I have already indicated that I will be giving up my non-parliamentary business roles around the turn of the year, in preparation for the forthcoming general election in 2010.”
See also:
Britain dumping Toxic Waste in Ghana
EU: An Ecological Warrior
The Waterson Hicks report - [451KB PDF]
Statement from Trafigura - [ KB PDF]
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