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BBC Newsnight backs down over Trafigura waste dumping claims

In a hearing in the UK high court today, the BBC agreed to pay £25,000 to a charity of oil trader Trafigura's choice following allegations made on its Newsnight programme in May 2009.

In the Newsnight programme the BBC alleged that waste dumped in Cote D'Ivoire in 2006 had caused deaths, miscarriages and serious long term health effects.

Trafigura subsequently brought libel proceedings against the company and in a high court hearing this morning the BBC agreed to withdraw the allegations and broadcast an apology on Newsnight.

Trafigura, a British based oil trader, agreed to pay victims of the waste dumping around £30 million in compensation in September 2009, having previously paid compensation of over £100 million to the Ivory Coast government. However, it denies liability.

Today's case result can be read in full at this link.


In a statement released by the BBC this morning, a spokesperson said:

"The BBC has played a leading role in bringing to the public's attention the actions of Trafigura in the illegal dumping of 500 tons of hazardous waste in Abidjan in 2006. The dumping caused a public health emergency with tens of thousands of people seeking treatment.

[…]

"Trafigura brought libel proceedings against the BBC over one aspect of its reporting: claims that the waste had caused deaths, miscarriages and serious long term health effects. An official Ivory Coast Government report into the incident had stated that people had died because of the waste and a recent United Nations report also found that there was strong prima facie evidence linking the waste to a number of deaths.

"[T]rafigura agreed to pay victims of the waste around £30 million in compensation for sickness suffered. However, the experts in that case were not able to establish a link between the waste and serious long term consequences including deaths.

"In light of this, the BBC acknowledges that the evidence does not establish that Trafigura's waste caused deaths, miscarriages or serious or long term injuries. Accordingly, the BBC has withdrawn those allegations and has agreed to broadcast an appropriate apology on Newsnight."

The BBC Newsnight programme is reported to have been taken offline last week but it has since been made available on the whistleblowing site Wikileaks.

In October, Trafigura's injunction on the 'Minton Report' - which looked into the effects of waste dumping - was lifted, following a five week legal battle with the Guardian.

• More coverage of Trafigura and waste dumping in Cote D'Ivoire at this link.

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