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Trafigura and the drama of Probo Koala

Companies and/or individuals involved: Trafigura Limited (United Kingdom), Trafigura Beheer BV (Netherlands and Switzerland), Naeem A. (employee of Trafigura Ltd.), Nobah A. (managing director of company WAIBS), Sergiy C. (Ukrainian captain of Probo Koala), Compagnie Tommy (Côte d’Ivoire), Salomon U. (director), Essoin K. (Abidjan port agent)

Charges: Illegal export of waste, forgery of documents (not pursued), violation of the right to health, life, environment (African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights)

Swiss lawyers used: N/A

Countries affected: Côte d’Ivoire, Switzerland

Proceedings: United Kingdom, Norway, Netherlands

Outcome: 

  • $198 million, out-of-court settlement in exchange for dropping charges against Trafigura or its employees (Côte d’Ivoire)
  • One million euros for illegal export of waste (Netherlands)
  • Naeem A.: Six-month suspended prison sentence and a fine of €25,000 (Netherlands)
  • Sergiy C. (captain of Probo Koala): Five-month suspended prison sentence (Netherlands)
  • Salomon U. (Compagnie Tommy): 20 years in prison (Côte d’Ivoire)
  • Essoin K. (shipping agent in port of Abidjan): 5 years in prison (Côte d’Ivoire)

Asset recovery: GBP 30 million paid out to 29,614 victims by Trafigura

The case

This scandal unveils one of Trafigura’s core business activities: blending. This technique involves mixing different grades of petroleum with other products to achieve a desired volume and quality. There is nothing illegal with this practice (even if it may be considered immoral), as long as those playing at being trainee chemists respect environmental standards. For Swiss traders – who have created a business model for supplying high-sulphur petroleum products to the African continent, known as “African Quality” in the business, as we revealed in our 2016 Dirty Diesel survey – this is not always the case. 

The events go back to 2006. After purchasing a large shipment (84,989 metric tonnes) of coking naphtha, one of the lowest qualities of gasoline blendstocks, Trafigura began the refining process in Emirati and Tunisian ports. The stench produced led to the suspension of operations, which were eventually carried out by Trafigura on the high seas, aboard the old tanker Probo Koala. Caustic washing at sea is prohibited in many countries because of the dangers involved. Internal emails subsequently revealed that Trafigura managers were willing to risk the ship being damaged or even sunk during the operation in order to maximize their profits. In April, the company tried to unload the waste from this operation in four different ports, in Gibraltar, Italy, Malta and France. The ship finally arrived in the port of Amsterdam in July, but Trafigura refused to pay the price for treatment and the waste was re-embarked. After a new attempt in Estonia and then in Nigeria, on the recommendation of the Ivorian port agent WAIBS (West African International Business Services), Trafigura reached an agreement with a local company, Compagnie Tommy. This company agreed to take care of the waste for $17,000, a fraction of the price quoted in the Netherlands. 

But this company had neither the expertise nor the capacity to treat this waste. It simply unloaded it by truck in Akouédo, an open-air landfill in Abidjan, as well as at various sites in the city, which amounted to illegal and inappropriate disposal of toxic waste. On Sunday, 20th August, the inhabitants of Côte d’Ivoire’s economic capital woke up to a foul smell reminiscent of rotten eggs or a mixture of garlic and fuel. “It was suffocating,” recalls a woman living in the city, quoted by the newspaper Libération. “We closed the doors and windows but there was a tingling in our eyes, irritation in our throat. Vomiting, dizziness. No one understood what was happening.” 

The toll taken by this waste would be 17 deaths and 100,000 cases of poisoning. Faced with the international scandal that erupted, Trafigura director, Claude Dauphin, rushed to Côte d’Ivoire to try to sort things out. He spent five months in pre-trial detention but, thanks to out-of-court settlements reached, he was never bothered again. Internal documents revealed, however, that Trafigura’s executives were aware of the operation and the risks it entailed. Trafigura explained to courts in the Netherlands that, even though it had set up its headquarters there, it did not carry out any activities from there, as its operating structures were based in the United Kingdom and Switzerland. In Switzerland, the judicial authorities have not taken any action.

To this day, Trafigura continues to put all the blame for this disaster on Compagnie Tommy.

Documents related to this affair

Timeline

Date

Event

Source

1993Two former traders of Marc Rich, the godfather of commodities trading in Switzerland, found Trafigura. They are French nationals Claude Dauphin and Eric de Turckheim.The Guardian
End 2005Trafigura purchases large quantities of coking naphtha, an unrefined hydrocarbon. The purpose is to use it as a cheap blend to produce fuel for African markets. To refine it, the company uses the industrial process of washing with caustic soda, first carried out on land, then for the first time at sea, on a vessel called Probo Koala.Amnesty
19th-20th August 2006After the Probo Koala completes its long sea journey, Compagnie Tommy dumps its toxic waste in several locations, including  public landfills, in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. The casualty toll would rise to 17 deaths and 100,000 cases of poisoning.Public Eye
September 2006Claude Dauphin and Trafigura’s regional director for West Africa head to Abidjan for what they describe as a “humanitarian mission”. But the Ivorian government intends to make an impression and decides to place the two executives in pre-trial detention. They spend five months locked up in Abidjan’s central prison.Public Eye
February 2007After lengthy negotiations, the local authorities and Trafigura reach a settlement agreement. The trading house pays $198 million in exchange for being discharged from all legal liability in the disaster. Both parties also undertake to abstain from any civil proceedings. The judicial authorities also discontinue the criminal proceedings launched against Trafigura’s employees. Only the Ivorian partners are sentenced to several years in prison.Business & Human Rights
September 2009The Ivorian victims of the Probo Koala incident turn to the British justice system, participating in what is one of the largest class actions in history. In London, the 29,614 Ivorian plaintiffs receive a payment of GBP 30 million or about GBP 1,000 per plaintiff. But the issue of who will cover the expensive lawyers’ fees and the non-payment of certain indemnities overshadows this amicable settlement.Leigh Day
16th November 2012The Dutch Public Prosecutor’s Office and Trafigura Beheer BV announce that they have reached an agreement to drop the appeals concerning the treatment of waste from the Probo Koala in the port of Amsterdam in July 2006. Trafigura’s managers will not face any further investigation. The trading house welcomes the agreement and says it wants to “refocus on Trafigura’s continuing and substantial commitment to Africa”.De Rechtspraak
17th March 2014Amnesty International urges the British authorities to open a criminal investigation into Trafigura's London subsidiary, which coordinated the operations that led to the waste being dumped. The Environment Agency refuses to investigate, while admitting that if the allegations are well founded, “a serious offence has been committed”.Amnesty
September 2016To mark the 10th anniversary of the disaster, Public Eye publishes one of its flagship investigations, Dirty Diesel. Where did the waste on the Probo Koala come from and why was it on this ship? Based on these questions, Public Eye discloses the role of Swiss traders in the production and supply of toxic fuels for African markets. A highly lucrative business model. Public Eye
2016The Ivorian Human Rights League (LIDHO), the Ivorian Human Rights Movement (MIDH) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) bring the Ivorian State before the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (AfCHPR).International Federation for Human Rights
5th September 2023The AfCHPR considers that the Ivorian State is at fault for failing to protect human rights in the Trafigura toxic waste dump case.

The Court obliges the State to set up, in consultation with the victims and within one year, a compensation fund drawing on the sums paid by Trafigura under its settlement. The Court also considers that the protocol signed between the State and the company aids and abets impunity through offering immunity from prosecution, thereby impacting the availability of certain local remedies to those affected by the illegal disposal of waste.		African Union

Legislative loopholes

  • Dangerous nature of blending, with a lack of proper management by traders of the toxic waste it produces 
  • Bypassing environmental protection laws by going through countries with weaker or less tightly controlled legislation and then by moving the refining process to the high seas
  • Concealment of liability by using intermediaries to pay bribes
  • Out-of-court settlement reached with the local government. Trafigura pays $198 million in exchange for dropping charges, but no provision is made for victims
  • No specific supervisory authority in the commodities sector and no appropriate due diligence obligations for traders