While the financial penalty sounds light, it is encouraging that finally that industry is being held accountable for the damage inflicted in Africa.
The oil trader Trafigura has been fined ¤1m (£840,000) for illegally exporting tonnes of hazardous waste to west Africa. It is the first time the London-based firm has been convicted of criminal charges over the environmental scandal, in which 30,000 Africans were made ill when the toxic waste was dumped in Ivory Coast.
A court in the Netherlands also ruled today that the firm had concealed the dangerous nature of the waste when it was initially unloaded from a ship in Amsterdam.
Eliance Kouassi, president of the victims' group in Ivory Coast, said: "Finally Trafigura has been called out in a court of law. It's a real victory for us." The fine is, however, only half the amount sought by the Dutch prosecutors.
