This week an Amsterdam court will start hearing evidence relating to the Probo Koala waste scandal. In the summer of 2006, 16 people died in Ivory Coast's port city of Abidjan and thousands more became ill following the dumping of waste from the ship Probo Koala. A Dutch company, Trafigura, had hired the ship to transport the waste, but that's not the only fact that links this scandal to the Netherlands.

Trafigura, a trading company based in the Netherlands which chartered the vessel, at first attempted to have the waste processed in Amsterdam, but the company it contracted for this rejected the cargo because of its odour. After Trafigura was told it would cost 500,000 euros to process the waste in the Netherlands, the company ordered the Probo Koala to set sail for Ivory Coast where a company registered only a few days earlier had promised to do the job for 18,500 US dollars.

Untreated waste dumped
The newly-registered firm called Compagnie Tommy had offered to process the waste in Abidjan, but the contents of the Probo Koala were dumped untreated at municipal refuse dumps throughout the city. In the weeks that followed, 16 people died and tens of thousands sought medical treatment for ailments including headaches and breathing problems.

Trafigura and three other parties are facing prosecution: the captain of the Probo Koala, the City of Amsterdam and the waste-processing company Amsterdam Port Services. On Friday the court decided not to proceed with the case against Trafigura executive Claude Dauphin, one of the firm's founders. Greenpeace spokesman Eco Matser expressed disappointment at this development, commenting that it would be a good thing if company executives were the ones held responsible for calamities of such size.

Questions
Greenpeace argues that under Dutch law the City of Amsterdam should not have allowed the vessel to be reloaded with toxic waste. Mr Matser says:

"Some of the toxic waste had been unloaded by the Amsterdam Port Services. When they found out the waste was more toxic than they had been led to believe they pumped it back onto the ship. That in itself would appear to be in violation of the law."

He also wonders why the City of Amsterdam allowed the vessel to set sail and why the Amsterdam municipal authorities and the national government - in the shape of the environment and transport ministries - did not intervene.

Although the Amsterdam trial has nothing to do with events in Ivory Coast and deals solely with the what occurred in the Netherlands, Mr Matser says the results of the case will be important for the victims in Ivory Coast.

Compensation
In 2007, Trafigura agreed to pay Ivory Coast more than 150 million euros to cover the costs of cleaning up the waste and to help the victims, although it has denied this is any acknowledgement of guilt on its part. In return the Ivory Coast government agreed to drop all charges against Trafigura and not make any further claims. After the agreement the Ivory Coast authorities released three imprisoned Trafigura executives, among them Claude Dauphin.

* RNW translation (fs/rc)