The Dutch public prosecutor is seeking a 2 million euro fine for commodities trader Trafigura.

It says the company violated environmental laws when transporting toxic waste that ultimately ended up in the open air in Ivory Coast.

"Trafigura has let own interests prevail above health and environment...Other choices could have been made but haste, hurry and money have prevailed," public prosecutor Renske Mackor told an Amsterdam court on Monday.
 
Chartered by Dutch-based Trafigura Beheer BV, the ship Probo Koala had wanted to dispose of hundreds of tonnes of chemical slops in Amsterdam in July 2006 but decided not to after being told it would have to pay clean-up costs.
 
About a month later, the material was dumped in the Ivorian economic capital Abidjan and thousands of residents of the city complained of illnesses.
 
The government of Ivory Coast said 16 people died but a British judge said last September there was no evidence the waste had caused anything more than "flu-like symptoms".
 
Trafigura denies any wrongdoing for events in Ivory Coast and the Netherlands.
 
Source: Reuters