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Article

23 Oct 2008

Author:
BBC News

Two jailed over Ivorian pollution

A court in Ivory Coast has sentenced two people to 20 years and five years in jail for dumping hundreds of tonnes of toxic waste in Abidjan in 2006. Seven others were acquitted. The Dutch company that shipped the waste avoided prosecution by paying the government a $200m (£108m) out-of-court settlement. The company, Trafigura, never admitted liability, saying the payment was made out of sympathy for the Ivorian people...Seventeen people died and thousands suffered breathing problems and nausea...[Trafigura] said it had contracted a local firm, Tommy, to handle the waste in good faith…The court sentenced the head of Tommy...to 20 years in jail...[A] shipping agent…[who] had recommended Tommy to…Trafigura...received a five-year prison term...